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^jLfa^-'S^' (fiSL. U

^ > "i.

HARVARD COLLEGE LIBRARY

FtntCHASED FROM THE

BOSTON LIBRARY SOCIETY

WITH mCOMB FROM THE

AMEY RICHMOND SHELDON FUND

1941

It
I

"COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND
BE MY LOVE."

)

((

COME, LIVE WITH ME,
AND BE MY LOVE "

AN ENGLISH PASTORAL

ROBERT BUCHANAN

AUTHOR OF ,

** GOD AND THE MAN/* " THE SHADOW OF THE SWORD," ETC.

Come, live with me, and be my Love,
And we will all the pleasures prove
That hills and valleys, dale and field.
And all the cragg^y mountains yield.

There will we sit upon the rocks.
And see the shepherds feed their flocks.
By shallow rivers to whose falls
Melodious birds sing madrigals.

Tk4 Passionate Shepherd.

CuusTOPUSK Marlowe.

NEW YORK

L07ELL, COBYELL & COMPANY
43, 45 AND 47 East IOth Street

soricTY.

/Iharvard
(university

LIBRARY
\UMt 5 tt4l

UNITED STATES BOOK COMPANY.

A// rights reserved.

" COME, LIVE ^VITH ME, AND

BE MY LOVE."

CHAPTER L

IN THE HAYFIELO.

There grew two roses in the light—

Hey the wind and the weather !
And one was red, and one was white,

And they shone in the sun together ! — Old Song,

"TcHiK ! That went down rarely 1 Thy turn next,
Amandy ! "

** Cannikin's empty ! "

*' Then take a buss instead ! "

She held up her mouth to his, and a loud "smack
followed. Then, cushioned softly on the sweet-
smelling hay, Jabez Doyle lay back and closed his
eyes.

"Now, ril ha' a snooze," he said.

** Wake up, ye dumbledore 1 " she cried, shaking
him.

6 " COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.'* ;

** Fm dreaming o' thee, Amandy I "

" Dreaming o' rubbish I "

*'0h, how I love 'eel Say, you — when is it to
be?"

"What?"

** As if ye doan't know ! Me and you and passon"
(nudging her with his elbow, but still lying with his
eyes shut). '*Eh?"

** I'm goan back to my work," said Amandy, rising.

•*No you bean't !" answered Jabez, springing up
and throwing the loose hay over her while she puffed
and gasped for breath. *'Haw! haw I haw!"

**Ye great vule ! I'm choking!" she cried, ad-
ministering a box on the ear strong enough to fell
an ox.

It was the noontide siesta. Jabez Doyle, labourer,
and Amanda Jane Thistlewaite, farm-servant, had
stolen away to the corner of the five-acre field to eat
their bread and cheese and empty their cannikins of
thin ale. Both were tanned red with the sun — Jabez
the lean, with his powerful bony frame and perpetual
grin ; Amanda the stout, built in the ample mould of
the Amazon, but sleepy-eyed and good-tempered as
one of her own cows. Jabez was in his shirt-sleeves,
without coat or waistcoat, and with an old billycock

«• COME^ LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.

»»

perched on his shaggy brown hair ; Amanda wore a
white cotton gown with blue flowers worked upon it,
and swung her great sun-bonnet in her hand. An
ash-tree spread its shade above and around them, and
the brook or rivulet which fringed the field ran clear
and shallow at their feet.

All round, the perfumed fields and meadows
swimming in the mists of summer heat Warm
stillness everywhere, as if the heart of Nature had
almost ceased to beat Far off, at the farther side of
the five-acre, a half-laden wain, with men and women
sheltering in its shade.

'* Gie me thy hand, Amandy. I want to measure
thy finger."

"Shannot"; then, after hesitating, **what for?"
** Why, for ring, surely I *If you'll ha' me, and Til
ha'^o«, no knife can cut our love in two."'
" Let be. Fll tell Sam Wood ! "
'* And I'll punch Sam's head ! "
'* You ? He could lick 'ee with one hand."
But she grinned, and let her fat finger rest in her
lover's horny palm. Suddenly she started, and drew
it away. A white gate opened twenty yards off, and
a man on horseback entered the field.
A firm-set, grave-faced man, dressed in a dark

8 " COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE,**

tweed suit, with leathern gaiters and a low-crowned
felt hat

**Measter Geoffrey!" whispered Amandy, while
Jabez wiped his brow with the back of his hand and
looked sulky.

Up came the rider, sitting loosely in the saddle,
and scarcely guiding the round, well-fed, thick-set
horse that bore him. His firm-set head, seen more
closely, showed just a touch of grey behind the ears ;
his brown eyes, though thoughtful, were deep-set
and keen. He was only thirty years of age, but he
would have passed for thirty-five, or even more, so
grave and even stern was his expression.

*' Wasting time as usual, Jabez Doyle I " he said as
he passed, **and still philandering with Amanda.
Get back to work I — the day s half done."

Jabez looked black as thunder, and made a mock-
ing grimace behind the rider's back.

** Who's he, to go on as if he were measter?" he
muttered. " Nice cock o' the walk, htm/"

"Hold thy tongue, vule I " said Amanda, putting
on her bonnet and striding out into the sun.

Right across the field rode Geoffrey Doone the
overseer, and the groups in the distance rose and
became active as they saw him coming. Part of the

" COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE:' 9

field was yet to be mowed, though the grass of the
greater part was already cut and drying in the
midsummer heat. Presently the whole field was
busy again, the mowers at work in the long grass,
the others busy tossing the hay or piling it into cocks.
Geoffrey reined in his horse in the centre of the field,
and looked round.

It was high ground, and he could see the fields
and meadows for miles and miles, the green hedges,
the dark clumps -of woodland, and, beyond, the
sunny slopes of the high downs. Right above the
field, a mile away, was the farm-house — an old
straggling house, with many outbuildings, a garden,
and an apple orchard. How still and peaceful all
looked I How warm and glowing ! He knew every
landmark, every tree and stone, in the old farm : for
had he not lived there, man and boy, for twenty
years? had he not witnessed twenty haymakings and
twenty harvests in that very place ? His thoughts
travelled back to the time when he came to the farm,
a friendless boy, and was welcomed and sheltered by
the old farmer, now long since dead. And now,
when Miss Catherine ruled in her father's stead, he
was her right-hand man and overseer. Scarcely
ever had he taken holiday, or wandered away for

10 " COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.''

more than a day at a time, and then only to the
county town on market or other business. He had
grown, like a firm-rooted oak, in that soil, and
had few wishes or dreams beyond it. His heart
welled up in gratitude for favours past, for kind-
nesses received; for had he not had ** schooling,"
and been treated by his first benefactor almost like
a son?

As he passed close to the wain, making for another
gate at that side of the field, he caught sight of two
figures standing in the shadow — a woman and a man,
neither of the species "clodhopper," like Jabez and
Amanda.

The man was young, handsome, and somewhat
delicate of feature, and his dress betokened some
superior station in country life. The woman was
about eight-and-twenty, tall, and firmly built, brown
with the sun, dark-haired and dark-eyed, and though
her gown was only of common cotton, and she wore
the great white sun-hat of the place and period, her
manner bespoke a certain authority.

"Geoffrey I " she cried, and he rode up to her, and
saluted her companion with a nod.

"Yes, Miss Catherine."

" Please hurry up to the farm at once. The old

«* COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.'' i j

mare's foaling, and I've had to call in Button to look
after her, for she's having a bad time."

Geoffrey nodded, and was turning away, when she
called out to him —

** I'm coming after you directly. George has
brought me bad news about the Gaffer, and I want
your advice at once. "

He nodded again, and rode quickly away. Neither
of the two had noticed his dark flush of surprise at
finding them there together, or the look of wistful
discomfort with which he had looked into the bright
eyes of his young mistress.

**What a good fellow he is!" said George, with
an air of friendly patronage. " I wonder how you'd
get on without him ? "

"Why, I shouldn't get on at all," replied Catherine,
smiling. ** Always busy, ever stirring, never think-
ing of himself, but always of us. When father died,
a year after mother was taken away, and I was left
with little Bridget all alone, what should I have done
without Geoffrey I The farm on my hands, debts
and trouble all round ; Bridget a helpless little mite
of ten, and me eighteen, and as brown and ill-favoured
as the Lord makes 'em "

**Nay, nay, Catherine, not ill-favoured I "

1 2 " COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.

"Well, then, stupid and common, with no book-
learning, and no knowledge of how to manage beasts
or men. What should I have done with the farm
without a strong man to help me? But, there, I
must go up now, and you'll come too, won't you,
George ? "

"Well, I was thinking of going home."

"You mustn't do that — come to the house,
and till I'm done with Geoffrey you can talk to
Bridget"

The young man, his face suddenly brightening,
at once acquiesced. They walked side by side
through the field, and onward through the meadows
leading to the farm.

Though she had spoken of bad news, Catherine
looked radiant. A tyro in love might have seen how
the wind blew ! Every look, every movement of
the woman was full of the joy of life, and that joy
was radiated to her from the handsome youth at her
side. In his company she was filled with the large
content of happy animals. Her step was firm upon
the ground, and she walked with the easy grace of
perfect health and strength. From time to time
she glanced round at her companion, and on
each occasion her face brightened. He, quite un-

" COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.*' 13

conscious of his influence upon her, lounged on
thoughtfully, his hands in the pockets of his dark
tweed coat.

Catherine Thorpe libelled herself indeed, though
laughingly, when she called herself '* ill-favoured."
She had all the freshness and comeliness of full-blown
womanhood. Brown she was as a ripe brown pear,
and without any of the graces of a fine lady; but
her eyes were bright, her teeth white, her features
finely formed, and her shape as straight and well-
poised as any form wrought in marble. By her side,
indeed, the young man, though hale and strong,
looked almost a weakling.

" I can't tell you," he said, ** how sorry I am
about this business with my father."

** Never mind," she replied, smiling.

"But I do, Catherine. I'm downright sick and
ashamed when I think what a churl he is to such old
friends. But, there, you know what he is. Money,
money, money, is all his dream ! He grudges him-
self even the food he eats and the clothes he wears."

** That's the way to hoard up riches, I suppose ? "

"Well, at any rate, I'm sick of it all, and that's
why I came over to tell you"-

"Totelliwe/ Yes?"

,' »>

14 " COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.

**That he'll have to get some one else to do his
dirty work. I'm going away."

** Going away I "

The smile faded from her face, and her heart began
beating wildly.

** To London. They've offered me a place in a
big grain warehouse yonder, and I thought — well, I
iYioughiyou 'd like to know. "

She was silent for some moments, and when she
spoke her voice trembled.

'* It's a shame, a crying shame," she said, " that
the old man should drive you away like that I And
he so rich, with thousands in the bank. "

** Let him keep it ! I can work. There's another
thing, I'm sick of his eternal cry that I should marry
some woman with money. Morning, noon, and
night it's the same story — about this or that rich
wench to be had for the asking. As if I'd sell
myself like that I "

** I'm sure you wouldn't ! " said Catherine, looking
down. Her sun-hat hid her face, so that he did not
see the crimson blush that covered her cheeks.

*' I knew^ow 'd think me in the right," he said softly.

She nodded emphatic assent, still with her face
turned away. Her look was radiant again. She felt

" COME, LIVE WITHME^ AND BE MY LOVE.** 1 5

the warmth of earth and sky, and was once more full
of the joy of life. He had come to her, he had confided
in her first of all I

As they passed up the meadows, a wood-dove
crooned in a neighbouring tree, and the deep, long-
drawn note seemed to come out of her own full heart
The growing grass, the kindling air, was happy and
alive ; the earth seemed drawing great deep breaths
of peace and joy. What did all else matter now?
What mattered her own troubles, the old man's anger,
the son's wrath, since everything in the world was so
glad and bright ? She had no thought of the future.
She only knew that she was happy, and that it was
full summer.

Hers was a nature with few caprices and no self-
deceptions — ^incapable of analysis or introspection.
Had the young man said to her at that moment, **I
love you, Catherine," she would have felt no surprise
and have expressed none, but would have replied
simply, "And I love^<?«, George," giving herself to
him frankly and with a full heart Her modesty was
that of a beautiful animal, and in her love there was
neither fear nor shame. ** God made the woman for
the man, and the man for the woman," was her good
old country creed And, being simple and sane of

l6 " COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE. "^

disposition, she needed no present protestation of love
to make her happy. Love to her, at that moment,
seemed as simple and certain as the green earth, as
the warm air, as the restful clouds, as her own gladly-
beating heart. She breathed it, she felt it in her veins,
and it was enough. George had come to her, he was
at her side, and all the rest seemed easy.

Wholly unsuspicious of the feelings he had awak-
ened, and which had been growing in Catherine's
heart for many a day, George walked on, with his eyes
on the farm above him. All his thoughts were there I
— ^Catherine was his friend, his comrade, his sister
even, but that was all. In his eyes she was a good
kind creature, comely enough, but, so far as he was
concerned, almost sexless.

A cock crowed, up among the farm buildings, and
another answered the challenge.

'*Sign of rain," said . Catherine, smiling. What
cared she for rain or storm then, though it should play
havoc with the haymaking ! .

*'Oh, it won't come yet," replied George, care-
lessly.

They stepped out upon the deep-furrowed road
which led up to the farm-house, followed it for a hun-
dred yards, and opened a small wicket-gate leading

" COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.'' 17

into a wild piece of garden which faced the porch ;
and on the rough lawn just outside the porch a pretty
girl of twenty sat in a wicker chair, humming to
herself and sewing.

'* Here's Bridget I " cried Catherine, beaming with
affection.

Bridget looked up, then, seeing George, blushed
and nodded a greeting. The young man blushed too,
and held out his hand, which the girl took quietly.
Catherine, sure of her own happiness, looked on with

a smile of large approval

CHAPTER II.

UP AT THE FARH.

Thro^ the haze of the heat, cattle low, lambkins bleat,
While tweet a tweet ^ tweet ! the birds whistle sweet,
And Love's in the air, like a lark on the wing O \^Old Song,

Catherine and Bridget Thorpe were two sisters by
the same mother, though in age there was nearly
eight years' difference between them : Bridget being,
as the old farmer used to express it, "an after-
thought," born when the parents had given up all
thoughts of having another child. Seen apart, they
bore a certain resemblance to each other, though the
younger sister was much fairer fn complexion ; but
standing side by side, they seemed of different parent-
age altogether. Bridget was small, and slight for her
age, with wistful blue eyes, a pouting rosebud of a
mouth, a nose slightly retrousse, and delicate feet and
hands ; refined and lady-like in every look and ges-
ture. Catherine, on the other hand, seemed of larger

" COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE,'* 19

mould than she really was, a woman of the people,
neither delicate nor refined. The very dress of the sis-
ters was a contrast. While Catherine wore much the
same raiment as her own dairy woman, Bridget was
attired like a lady in a dress of better cut and finer
material, with dainty boots on her feet, and gloves
on her hands, to keep them from the sun.

Softly and gently, with the look of a mother in her
eyes, Catherine bent over her sister and kissed her,
saying —

** I've brought George to amuse you. Fve got to
talk to Geoffrey. "

Then, with a smile and a nod, she entered the porch
and passed into the house.

The pertinacious wood-dove, who had been cooing
in the trees below, had now ensconced himself in a
large elm overhanging the garden, and was filling
the air with his dreamy call. Bridget sewed on,
listening, while George stood by, awkwardly look-
ing at her. For a long time neither said a word.
The young man was the first to break the silence, and
with a somewhat irrelevant remark —

'*rve often wondered, Bridget, that your sister
doesn't marry ; but there, she doesn't seem one of the
marrying sort"

20 " COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE :*

Stitch ! stitch \ went the little fingers.

** Indeed no," the girl replied, smiling. "She has
too much sense."

Here George at once saw an opening, which he
endeavoured to enlarge.

"You think marrying's stupid then ? " he observed
somewhat sheepishly.

"Folks say so." Humming to herself!

"Well, it all depends I"

'* On what?"

"On the folk concerned. Where there's lave, you
know "

"What's /A«/?"

"Why, you see love's — well, love's love ! "

Bridget laughed outright.

* * How do folk feel when they're in love ? " she
asked slyly.

"Well, a bit awkward — ^full of things that can't be
said, and, well, frightened ! "

" Indeed, are you ever frightened I "

"Sometimes."

" Who frightens you ? "

"Jb«do!"

"Am I so dreadful?"

" Not at all ; but, you see, when I talk to Cathe-

«* COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.^' 2 1

rine I feel quite at home. She's so frank and true
and good, like one's own sister."

*' And Vm not. Thank you I "

** With j/<?« it's different!"

Bridget pouted her lips, and knitted her brow
thoughtfully.

** That's because I'm noi pretty, I was always an
ugly little thing. When I was a baby I'd a mouth
like a frog I "

Here George, seeing a chance for a compliment,
observed eagerly —

** Your mouth's like a rosebud ! "

'*A11 prickles I Then it's vay nose that's ugly?"
[Here she rubbed it dubiously.] *'Iknow it turns
up!"

**0f course. You wouldn't have it turn down?
Besides, it makes folk want to kiss you ! " ^ ^^

"Then it's like their imptidence ! I detest kissing
— it always looks so silly. "

"Yet you kissed Catherine."

' * Oh, that's different, as you would say — and,
besides, Catherine is more to me than all the world I "

As she spoke, a look of infinite tenderness, wistful
in its yearning as the look of a loving child, passed
over the girl's face.

22 " COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.

While George and Bridget were talking together in
full sunshine, Geoffrey and Catherine were busily en-
gaged in the great oak-raftered kitchen at the rear
of the house : a capacious chamber, of barn-like pro-«
portions, with a deep old-fashioned ingle, at either
side of which were seats of black oak, and a warm
fire burning on the hearth, as if it were mid-winter
instead of midsummer. The kitchen was full of
queer divisions and corners, in one of which, close
to the window, there was a piece of carpet, a work-
table, and a writing-desk — the whole forming a sort
of a little parlor, open to the rest of the room. Here
Catherine, with the aid of Bridget, audited her
accounts, paid her labourers, and attended gener-
ally to the farm business ; and here she was busy
with the overseer, showing him one paper after
another to explain the financial situation.

**The worst of debts, "she observed philosophi-
cally, as he scrutinized the documents, **is that they
come, like the swallows, all at once. There's the
rates nearly a month overdue, and the money owing
to the Gaffer, and all the other odds and ends — so
that I scarce know which way to turn."

** Marsh will wait, "returned Geoffrey, thoughtfully ;
'* so must the Gaffer."

«* COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.** 23

"I'm in doubts, Geoffrey. One's a hard man,
Mother's a fool ! "

Geoffrey was silent for a moment, then he said,
without raising his eyes —

**If the worst comes to the worst, you must get
some friend to help you."

**I've no friends, Geoffrey, now father's gone."

"You've one, Catherine," was the quiet reply.
" The man your father took in and sheltered many a
long year ago — the man who owes everything to you
and yours. You know I've something put by, and
it's more than enough to free you of all your trou-
bles."

** Tsike j^our money ! " cried Catherine.

" Who has a better right to it ? You shai/ take it."

** I can't I'd rather sell the lease and go away."

** You shall never do that — never ! " said the over-
seer. "If you won't take the money, if you don't
trust me enough to take it as a gift, at least have it
as a loan — you'll soon repay me ! "

" How good you are I " she said, looking into his
eyes.

" No, no ! " he exclaimed, colouring under the look.

"But yes I — I always think of you, ay, and pray
for you, just as if you were my own dear brother."

24 " COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.

Through* the blue, diamond-shaped panes of the
low window the sunlight streamed, a moted ray
trembling and full of life, and with it came the low of
kine, the crowing of cocks, all the sleepy murmur of
the farmyard. The light fell full on Catherine's bust
and throat, leaving her face in shadow. Geoffrey's
face was in shadow too, but he turned it away as she
spoke the last words, which (little as the speaker
guessed it) cut into his heart like a knife. She noticed
the look of pain, but didn't guess its cause.

**Well, well," she said, smiling, "we'll see what
the Gaffer has to say I " and passed over the tile-paved
floor, where the dim firelight gleamed, and seemed
struggling feebly to join issue with the sunlight at the
y^: window. She was not the least bit troubled. Duns
^»t might come and duns might go, but her heart that
"Hay was full of sweet content

'* Well, Jasper, how are the latnbs ?"

"Sound and safe," answered a voice from the
ingle.

*'0f course youVe heard The mare's in labor,
and I've had to call in Dutton to pull her through."

'* He ^ He be no use. Them new-fangled vets
don't know the ways o' beasts."

The speaker was a man of nearly seventy years of

•f .

«« COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVEr 25

age, though he looked even older ; tall of figure, but
round-shouldered, as if through ever bending forward
and leaning on a staff; wrinkled and grey-haired,
yet fresh-coloured, with keen grey eyes, puckered up
in constant scrutiny of wind and weather. He wore
an old smock-frock, gaiters, and heavy shoes. By
his side lay a shepherd's crook, and at his feet slept
a shaggy-coated sheepdog. He was eating bread
and cheese, cutting off the mouthfuls slowly and
deliberately with a clasp-knife.

** Well," said Catherine, laughing, "you were up
on the weald, or I'd have asked you to try some of
your herbs, and maybe a charm too, into the bar-
gain."

Here Geoffrey, who had quietly followed his mis-
tress, broke in with 'Td back Jasper against the
doctor, whether the patient's man or beast"

The shepherd loafed up with a grim smile.

•'Thankee, Measter Geoffrey. I be no scholar,
thank God ! but I know the yerbs and the flowers,
and the signs o' the stars and planets, and the ways
of living things. Lonesomeness breeds thoughts,
Miss Catherine. Tliere's more ^curious things in
nature than foolish folk believe."

"And^^ow know them, Jasper," said Catherine.

26 ** COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE:'

** Didn't you cure Dame Seafield of her rheumatism
when all the doctors failed ? And when poor Bess
Thistlewaite was pining away for the miller, didn't
you teach her a charm to cure the heartache? "

Jasper's face expanded into a broad smile of self-
satisfaction. He swallowed the last mouthful of
bread and cheese, wiped his knife on his sleeve, and
then said, nodding good-humouredly —

** Well, maybe I know the ways o' wimmen and
the humours of flesh and blood."

"And you an old bachelor 1 " said Catherine, nudg-
ing Geoffrey with her elbow.

•* Well, Miss, a bachelor sees nature from an on-
prejudiced pint of view. He bean't tied down to
apron-strings and childer, like some poor vules o'

men."

, So saying, he arose and stepped from his seat,
while the dog rose too, and stretched itself. His
great height became now apparent. Even with his
stoop, he stood about six feet. Holding his old felt
hat in his hand, leaning on his crook, and blinking
his eyes cunningly, he looked at his mistress as she
said gaily —

**Well, when /'m sick or in love, I'll come to

«* COME, LfVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE :' 27

'* Do, Miss ; and Til put my finger on the trouble,
if I can't find a cure," he said, passing slowly to-
wards the open door ; then pausing and looking back
he added, ** Maybe I could tell Measter Geoffrey
summat, too, about his self ! "

*' Oh, Tm tough and sound !" said the overseer,
with a nervous laugh.

** There's a weak spot somewheres in every man,"
answered Jasper, nodding his head philosophically,
*' be he ever so strong. . . I brought 'ee them yerbs,
Miss Catherine. Gathered them at full moon, la^t
night"

*' Thank you, Jasper."

As the shepherd approached the door, he was con-
fronted by a stout, red-faced man entering in his
shirt-sleeves, followed by another man, very small
and spare, who was carrying the stout man's coat

** It's all right now. Miss Catherine," said the
stout man, with a contemptuous look at the shepherd.
*' Mother and child, as the saying is, are doing well,
and the foal's a picture to look at"

** Thank you, Mr. Dutton," cried Catherine.

The shepherd's face was puckered up into a smile
of amused contempt, not unmingled with sly malig-
nity.

28 " COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.''

** Science be a wonderful thing, Measter Dutton,"
he observed quietly. **Tis amazing how Nature
ever got along without you doctor chaps all the years
afore ye was born."

And with a chuckle he passed out into the farm-
yard, while Dutton looked after him with a snort of
scorn.

** That old charlatan ought to be locked up," he
said, putting on his coat with the little man's assist-
ance. **They punish old women for fortune-telling ;
they ought to quod htm for illegal practices."

** Oh, Jasper's all right," returned Catherine, smil-
ing. ** You'll have a glass of ale ? "

Dutton nodded, and Catherine tripped off to fill
some glasses at a great barrel among the shadows.

"Morning, Mr. Geoffrey I — morning!" said the
little man, speaking for the first time. He was very
fresh-coloured and dapper, and, though he was
only about fifty years old, he spoke in a high fal-
setto.

** Morning, Mr. Marsh."

At this moment George and Bridget entered the
kitchen. Both looked flushed and a little self-con-
scious, as if their conversation had not been altogether
casual It was curious to note how at the young

«c

COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.'' 29

man's appearance Geoffrey's face darkened, not
angrily but sadly.

Catherine brought the ale, and both Dutton and
Marsh partook of it. The talk turned on farm matters,
on weather and crops, and particularly on the new-
bom colt, but it had a troubled undercurrent, for
Cathernie was in Button's debt, and Marsh was her
Majesty's collector of taxes. As the men drank their
ale and talked together,. the two sisters walked over
to the table by the window, and there conversed in
whispers — Bridget sitting down before a pile of ac-
counts, and Catherine bending over her, with one
arm placed softly round her shoulders.

Presently, however, Dutton the surgeon called to
Catherine, and craved a little private talk with her.
They walked to the open door, and stood there talk-
ing. It was clear that Dutton was pressing his claim
for money, for Catherine looked somewhat vexed
and troubled. At last, however, he nodded, took her
hand, and with a ** Good-day " to the others went
out into the yard, where his horse was waiting for
him under the care of a farm-lad.

As Catherine returned towards Bridget, Mr. Marsh
stopped her with a nervous smile on his fresh face
and gave vent to a semi-amorous chuckle.

30 " COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE^

** Bless the man T' cried Catherine, "what's the
matter with him?"

*' It's the heart, Miss Catherine," piped the tax-
collector, ** quarrelling with the occupation I "

** Marsh has a large heart — no doubt of that," said
George, standing with his back to the fireplace,
while Geoffrey had taken the shepherd's seat in the
ingle.

** Thankee, Mr. George. They do say of me,
* Marsh is a gay man, though he do collect the Queen's
rates and taxes, and the wonder is he's never married 1 '
But, there, rates and taxes are my misfortune."

"And ours, too, Mr. Marsh," said Catherine.

** Rates and taxes cast a gloom over welcome, and
gaiety and law they never agree. I should have been
a family man long ago but for that, for they do say
I'm fresh-coloured and have pleasing ways. A month
overdue, miss, I believe ? " he added tenderly.

Catherine glanced towards the window, but Bridget
had disappeared.

"I'm afraid you'll have to wait a little longer, Mr.
Marsh 1 "

"I'd wait a year to oblige a lady," answered the
little man, bowing politely, " but them above me
force me to act contrariwise to my disposition. Ah I

« COME LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.'* 3 1

it's a terrible misfortune to a pleasing man, and one
as loves a welcome, to "

Here his discourse was interrupted by Bridget, who
tapped him on the arm, and, leading him to the table,
requested him to write out a receipt for the amount
due ; then, opening a little purse and counting out
themofleyon the table, she smiled at Catherine, who
looked stupefied.

** The taxes are my affair this time," cried Brid-
get, with an air of importance. "There's your
money ! "

** Bridget I" said Catherine; "you mustn't I I
won't have it ! "

"Nonsense ! " cried Bridget. "Now, Mr. Marsh,
I hope you're satisfied. Please, no apologies I "

The little man sighed, signed the receipt, and took
the money, then, with a nervous "Morning, morn-
ing ! " and a low bow to the ladies, took his departure.
This time Catherine looked really troubled. Throwing
herself into a chair, she renewed her protest.

" It's a shame ! All your little savings ! It was
for you to dress nicely, to make yourself look nice.
Geoffrey ! "

Geoffrey rose at the call and came over to the
window.

32 ** COMEy LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.''

*' Do you know what she's done ? " cried Catherine.
" Isn't it too bad of her ? "

Geoffrey smiled, and said nothing; but Bridget,
with a sound between a laugh and a cry, threw her
arms around her sister s neck.

** Never mind, dear! — ^by-and-bye — some day —
when I marry, you know — you shall pay me back ! "

The cloud passed from Catherine's face, and she
laughed merrily.

"What are you laughing at? "demanded Bridget

** To hear you talk of marrying ! A mite like you !
Time enough for that, Geoffrey, when she's grown a
woman, eh?"

**But I am a woman I

"You're a baby ! " cried Catherine, drawing her
face down and kissing it. "What between you and
Geoffrey, I feel quite ashamed. Why, only just now
the stupid fellow wanted me to rob him, and now
you've made me xoh you/" she added, clasping
Bridget, and reaching out her other hand to Geoffrey,
who took it quietly. * * But bless you both for it ! It's
good to be loved like that ! To have such a sister —
and such a brother ! "

For the moment, all three, even Catherine, had
forgotten George's presence. He stood in the fire-
light, listening and looking on.

CHAPTER III.

INTRODUCES THE GAFFER.

Gnomes that pile the golden heaps.

Busy when the whole world sleeps,

Pile them high around the bed

While he lies, half quick, half dead !

Let him see, when he doth rise,

Golden heaps 'neath golden skies —

Till his soul and sense and thought

Are to that complexion wrought. — The Gold Fays,

Catherine Thorpe had not exaggerated her troubles.
She had for some time past had the greatest possible
difficulty in making both ends meet, and this in spite
of the zealous care and good advice of her right-hand
man and overseer.

Besides the eight hundred acres of the farm proper,
she leased some hundred acres of pasturage on the
Weald, several miles away, and the whole formed a
large extent of land for a woman to look after and
farm to advantage. Seed crops were no longer
profitable, owing to the influx of foreign grain, and

34 ** COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.''

nearly all the acreage was devoted to meadowlands
and grass. Of late years, however, even the raising
of stock had been less profitable, and Catherine,
mainly for lack of capital, found herself crippled even
in that direction. Still, the land was such good
land, and so close to the best markets, that a little
more capital would have made Catherine, with Geof-
frey's aid, a well-to-do woman.

Her sex, as may be readily guessed, was much
against her. The farmers in the neighbourhood
shrugged their shoulders at the idea of a feminine
rival, and the people at the Bank, full of good old
conservative prejudice, were far less accommodating
to her than they would have been to a male creature
of half her shrewdness and talent. But, indeed, if
the truth must be told, Catherine's notions of farming
were entirely rudimentary. It was Geoffrey the
overseer who really managed matters, but, unfortu-
nately, he had to submit himself to indiscreet inter-
ferences on the part of his mistress. With a quite
free hand he might have made the farm profitable,
for he was clever and far-seeing.

There was but one opinion among those who con-
ceived themselves best fitted to form a judgment:
that Catherine's position was anomalous and against

" COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE^ 35

that law of nature which points to male supremacy,
that her only chance of salvation was to marry, and
that (in default of a wealthier suitor of the breed
** farmer ") she might do worse than marry Geoffrey
Doone. Yet, curiously enough, Catherine herself
never guessed that gossip was connecting her with
Geoffrey in that way. From childhood upwards she
had looked upon him as a sort of elder brother, left
in her father's place to look after her. Not unfre-
quentlyshe would say to him, "When you marry,
Geoffrey — and of course you will when Miss Right
comes along — what will become of us all here at the
farm ? " And the poor fellow, whose heart was empty
with I6ng yearning, would answer, smiling, **I
shall never marry ; Fm far better off as I am."

Diffident of his own powers of attraction, reminded
again and again that Catherine had never looked
upon him in the light of a possible lover, Geoffrey
continued to wear the mask and hold his peace.
But when the state of affairs begfan to grow threaten-
ing, and he realized how necessary it was for him,
if the farm was to thrive, to possess full authority, he
began to hope a Httle, and perhaps he would have
spoken, had he not suddenly become aware of the
fact that Catherine had fixed her affections upon

36 " COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE,''

another man — young George Kingsley, only son of
Gaffer Kingsley of The Warren.

Geoffrey alone, guided by the insight of love, real-
ized the situation, and saw that Catherine, usually so
calm and self-contained, so incapable of mere fancies
and flirtations, was spellbound by George's handsome
face. Although he perceived, at the same time, that
George was utterly indifferent to Catherine, and com-
pletely fascinated by Bridget, the fact did not lessen
his personal despair of ever winning his mistress's
affections.

Sick and weary at heart, he left George Kingsley
with the two women, and mounting his horse in the
farmyard, followed a rough country road which led
to the neighbouring village. His torture that day had
reached its culmination. The young man's sunny
presence, Catherine's secret looks of happy admira-
tion, her simple confidence and happiness, Bridget's
complete unsuspicion, had all tormented him beyond
endurance. Once in the open air, he breathed more
freely, but his face was still heavily clouded as he
walked his horse slowly downhill between the high
honeysuckled hedges, and so deep was his abstrac-
tion that he scarcely noticed the approach of an old
man who, at the first glance, might have been taken

«<

COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.'* 37

for some itinerant beggar. Coming close, however,
he recognized old Kingsley, usually known in im-
polite circles as '* the Gaffer."

A little wizened old man, fox-like of complexion
and expression, with small cunning eyes, shaggy
eyebrows, a savage ill-tempered mouth, and a low
projecting forehead. He wore an ancient coat of
moleskin much stained and bedraggled, moleskin
knee-breeches, coarse stockings, and blucher boots
laced with pieces of string. Bareheaded, he held in
his hand an old wideawake, with which he fanned
himself as, puffing and blowing, and leaning on a
thick staff, he climbed the hill.

•'Good day. Gaffer," said Geoffrey, drawing rein.
•' Going up to the farm ? "

"Where else should I be goin'?" snarled the
old man. ' * This road don't lead other ways as
I knows on. Say, j^ou/ — is my son Jarge up
yonder ? "

*' Yes, you'll find him there."

** And the women too, I s'pose ? Which o' them
penniless wenches is the vule coorting, eh ? "

" You'd better ask him yourself," answered Geof-
frey, frowning and shrugging his shoulders. " I
didn't know that he was courting anybody, and when

38 " COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE :'

you talk of Miss Catherine or Miss Bridget, I'll ask
you to keep a civil tongue in your head.*'

The Gaffer grinned maliciously, and, resting both
hands on his staff, gazed up into the eyes of the
overseer.

"Cock o' the walk, ^(?«/ But maybe some day
you '11 come to your senses. Will ye tell me another
thing : Who's goin' to pay me my money ? Fort-
night's grace 's run out all but twenty-four houts, and
if I don't get the brass on my mortgage, I'll foreclose
and sell. See ? "

" You won't do that I " cried Geoffrey, quickly.

'* Won't I ? Then you wait and find out I Shall
I tell 'ee a secret ? This farm 's goin' into the market,
and I 'm goin' to ha' it. Farm joins farm. Wi' this
place and The Warren, 't will make fifteen hundred
acres, seed and growin* land."

As the old man spoke, with all the relish of one
who anticipates a feast, his little ferret's eyes gleam-
ing, his low brow wrinkling over his puckered cheeks,
he seemed such an incarnation of avarice and ma-
lignity that Geoffrey's fingers itched to strangle him
out of life. But suddenly the Gaffer's face changed
to another expression. The features softened, the
malicious grin returned.

" COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE,'* 39

" Say,^o«/" he cried. "There's one way out
o' it, maybe. If Catherine can't pay, she can take a
partner; land joins land. The wench needs a
master, and she might do worse than wed. "

** Wed 1 " echoed Geoffrey, as the truth dawned
slowly upon him. ** Why, you don't mean "

** I mean I '11 ha' her, if she's willing ! " said the
Gaffer, with a wink and a nod.

Geoffrey looked aghast, and longed more than
ever to exterminate him. The very thought of
Catherine uniting herself to the old monster seemed
like blasphemy. The old man saw what was passing
in his mind, and proceeded with an air of diabolical
enjoyment —

** Maybe you'd like to wed the wench yourself,
and be cock o' the walk still, eh ? But you're nobody,
and I 'm somebody, see ? I'm hale and strong, tho'I
ha' berried three wives already, and 'twould be a
good match — a good match. "

Whether he spoke in eaniest or merely with a view
of enjoying Geoffrey's irritation, the Gaffer seemed
hugely in love with his own suggestion of a way to
solve all difficulties, but the expression of his face
changed to one of terror when the overseer, lowering
down upon him, and pressing his horse close as if

40 " COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE."

to smite him down, said in a voice low and deep
with passion —

"You old rat! Say another word like that, or
speak of it to Miss Catherine, and you 11 have to
reckon with me, Fbu, you^ with both feet in the
grave, half dead and rotten already I "

** Well, no offence 1 " cried the Gaffer, looking livid.

With an angry exclamation Geoffrey reined back
his horse suddenly and rode away. The Gaffer
tottered, the staff fell from his hands, and he almost
followed it to the ground ; then, gathering himself
together, and muttering feeble imprecations, he
stopped, picked up his staff, and hobbled up the hill.

The afternoon sun was shining golden over fields
and meadows, the haze of heat was thickening, and
even in the shadows of the lanes dwelt all the
warmth of summer. With a heart full of bitterness
and anger, Geoffrey Doone walked on indifferent to
all outward sights and sounds, until, turning an
angle of the lane, he reached a small two-storeyed
cottage, shadowed by a gnarled old walnut-tree, and
swathed to the pendent eaves in creeping plants,
their mass of summer greenery deeply touched here
and there with the gold, purple, and scarlet of

«« COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.'' 41

autumn. It stood back from the road, and the
garden in front of it, bisected by a short gravelled
walk, lined on either side with a row of oyster-shells,
leading. to the low-browed door, was bare but for a
patchy growth of odorous shrub. No smoke came
from the chimney, and the place looked chill and
deserted in the bright vivid sunshine of the declining
day.

Geoffrey dismounted, hitched his horse's reins over
the post of the rustic gate, and then stood, fumbling
absently in his pocket for the key, and looking dole-
fully at the house. Then, with a scarcely percep-
tible shrug, he passed up the walk, unlocked the door,
and walked into the front room. The ceiling, which
had once been white, was nearly as dark as the
brown-painted walls, and the small, heavily latticed
window, further darkened by curtains of some
sombre material, admitted but little light A heavy
oaken mantelpiece projected nearly half across the
room, and a small modern firegrate, built in the
recess of the generous old-fashioned hearth, was
flanked on either hand by a solidly built settle. The
fire was laid, and a kettle stood over the coals, to
which Geoffrey, in the same absent fashion, applied
a match. He stood with his hat tilted on to the ex*

42 " COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVEV

treme back of his head, and his hands plunged to the
depths of his pockets, watching the broadening flame,
and shaping his lips to a soundless whistle, which
ended with a sigh and a shrug. «

Over the old-fashioned dresser, garnished with a
few willow-pattern plates and teacups, was a rude
shelf, supporting a dozen well-used volumes : "The
Complete Farrier," a portly Bible and Book of Com-
mon Prayer, once gorgeous with much gilding, which
had faded under the dust of years ; Milton's poems,
an odd volume of the "Spectator** and a small
library of bucolic lore. The lonely bachelor, sick of
his hopeless thoughts, turned to the shelf and took
down a volume at hazard, stowed himself in a chintz-
covered armchair by the window, and began to read.
But the words carried no meaning to his troubled
mind, and before his eyes had travelled over half a
page he let the volume fall to his knees, and sat gaz-
ing through the window with a face whose expres-
sion gradually changed from one of pure boredom
and worry to- intent and earnest thought

He rose and paced to and fro in the kitchen, rub-
bing a wrinkled forehead with a heavy hand.

" Have I the right to do it ? "he murmured. *' How
would she take it ? She's proud as Lucifer. Pooh 1

COME, LIVE WITH ME, AIW BE MV LOVE. '' 43

If I did it, she'd have to take it, and as to what she
thought of me — well, I couldn't be farther off from
hope than I am. I'll do it I "

He dreve a clenched fist hard into the open palm
of his other hand, and walked out of the cottage, un-
heeding the cheerful hum of the kettle, now singing
merrily on the crackling fire. With the aspect of a
man firmly fixed upon some desperate course of
action, he drew out his watch.

'* I've got five-and-twenty minutes. The mare can
do it in that time." He sprang to the saddle, and
started the mare with a smart pat on the haunch.
"Get along, old lady ! " He looked, as he clattered
along the deserted road, as if he were charging an
invisible enemy, his lips set, his brows knitted above
his keen, determined grey eyes.

At a bend of the road he came in sight of a natty
little dogcart being driven at a sharp pace towards
him by an old gentleman of rather formal aspect.
He sat very stiff in his seat, with his whip held
straight up like a sceptre. His face was clean-shaven
but for two small grey whiskers of the mutton-chop
formation, accurately trimmed, and behind a pair of
clearly glittering gold spectacles shone a pair of keen
grey eyes, rather deeply set in their orbits. Geoffrey

44 " COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.^»

would have continued his way with a more rapid
salute in passing ; but the old gentleman pulled up
at sight of him, and the young overseer slackened
his speed, and brought his horse to a stand beside
tho dogcart

** Fine evening," said the old gentleman.
* * Very," said Geoffrey. ** But I suppose you didn't
itop a busy man to tell me that ? "

Tlic elder man coughed behind his hand, covered
with a shining black glove.

•' Well, no," he said, and hesitated for a moment

''You knew old Adams the farmer, I suppose? Died

the other day, you know — when was it — ^Thursday ? "

"Yes," said Geoffrey. "I knew him. What

about him?"

" I was his legal adviser," said the old man, glanc-
ing at a blue bag which lay on the seat of the dog-
cart beside him. ** In fact I drew up his will for him."
** Yes ? " said Geoffrey. ** He hasn't left me much,
I suppose ? "

*• No," said the lawyer, and, rather irrelevantly as
it seemed to Geoffrey, inquired, "How are things
going at the farm ? "

"Pretty much as usual," answered Geoffrey, in
a tone as nearly commonplace as he could make it

« COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE:' 45

"Pretty much as usual, eh? " repeated the lawyer.
" Ah ! Miss Catherine well ? "

"Very well, thank you."

The lawyer rubbed his chin and glanced askance
at his companion.

"Queer old chap, old Adams I Very close. Cut
up for an amount which surprised me. I thought I
knew his figure pretty well, but I was much below
it — much below it."

"And neither chick nor child to leave it to," said
Geoffrey, as he thought, with a sigh, how little of the
old farmer's wealth would have brought gladness to
the aching heart of the woman he loved. " How has
he left it ? "

"Ah! my dear sir! You really mustn't ask.
Professional men are bound to be secret about their
clients' business."

" Founded a hospital or an almshouse for old bach-
elors, I suppose — the grumpy old curmudgeon ! " said
the young man.

" You'll know in good time," said the lawyer ;
"and when you do, you'll be surprised — or my name
isn't Hillford. And so affairs at the farm are really
just as usual, eh? That mortgage affair — the old
Gaffer ? Terrible old screw ! And no friend to my

46 " COME, LIVE WIl^H MEy AND BE MY LOVE^

profession — does nearly all his law business for him-
self, and not so badly for an amateur. It will be a
happy day for Miss Catherine when she is out of his
clutches."

*' I'm in a hurry, if you'll excuse me," said Geof-
frey, curtly. * ' Good-night I "

"Good-night to you," responded the lawyer, and
drove on, happily unconscious of the low-breathed
anathemas the young man fulminated against him
as his watch told him he had wasted five minutes of
his precious time.

Geoffrey urged his horse to a brisker speed, and
presently clattered on to the cobble-paved main street
of the little market town. A three-storey building, the
ground floor windows of which were plate glass,
surmounted by the inscription, in green letters,
*' County Bank Branch, Limited," stood a little back
from the irregular line of houses on his right He
reined in before it

*' As I thought ! " he cried, in a tone of deep vexa-
tion. **I should have been in time if that old fool
had not stopped me ! "

He sat biting his nails angrily for a second or two,
and then, dismounting, threw therein to a boy loung-

" COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE,*' 47

ing near, and knocked at a green-painted door in the
side of the building.

* * Ask Mr. Purdon if he could be kind enough to
give me a moment of his time," he said to the maid,
and being ushered into a parlour on the first floor, stood
looking out upon the street till awakened from his
reverie by the entrance of the banker.

**It's quite irregular, I know," he said, after ex-
changing greetings, *'to come on business after busi-
ness hours, but I want to draw a little money from
my account Ifs extremely important."

** Well," said the baxiker, **it is a little irregular,
but, still, if it is really important, I might maxiage it
What's the amount?"

Geoffrey named the sum he required, and Mr.
Purdon left the room, returning presently with a roll
of notes.

** You had better give me a receipt if you haven't
your cheque-book," he said, as he handed them over
to the young man.

Geoffrey wrote the required document, shook hands
with the banker with reiterated thanks for his courtesy,
and descending to the street, threw a threepenny bit
to the boy who held his horse, and clattered away
homewards.

48 '* COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE,'''

** H'm ! " said the banker, as he watched his
diminishing figure from the window. ** Has it come
to that? Gaffer King^ley's mortgage is due to-
morrow, and that amount would just cover the
interest"

CHAPTER IV.

FATHER AND SON.

** Doth the rose spring fro* the bramble,

Or the lily fro' the furze ?
Are maiden thoughts bred out o' briars,

Or pimpernels o* burrs ?
Yet the hard heart breeds the gentle,"

Quoth the Shepherd o' the Fen,
** And the queerest ways o* Nature

Are the ways o* foolish men.'* — Old Ballad*

Stealthily approaching the farmhouse by the back
way, in the silent manner of feline animals, the Gaffer
was arrested by the sight of a Treasure, at which his
eyes sparkled question ingly. He bent over it, poked
it with his staff, turned it over and over, and finally
lifted it up for closer investigation.

It was an old mud-stained widewake hat, thrown
carelessly away at the side of a heap of manure.
Bad and battered as it was, it was in quite as good
condition, and had originally been of far better qual-
ity, than the one he himself wore. A less careful
man would have passed it scornfully by, but Gaffer

Kingsley, who never overlooked anything, however

4 «

50 " COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE,

trifling, that might be of any value, not only lifted
up the hat, but, after a careful examination, determined
to appropriate it to his own use.

He had just come to this determination when he
heard a low chuckle at his back, and, turning sharply,
he encountered the penetrating eyes of Jasper the
shepherd.

*' Hullo, Shepherd, I didn't see ye I "

"No?" returned Jasper, drily. **You don't see
much, Measter Kingsley, 'cept your own money-bags.
What ha' you got there ? Looks like something o'
mine ! "

'*Yourn?" said the Gaffer, *'I found it here on
the dungheap, cast away. Waste not, want not, say
I. If it's yourn I'll gie ye thruppence for it Come,
thruppence ! A new hat costs three or four shilling,
and this is good enough to mend."

"Keep it, then I — and keep your thruppence I — I
don't want it"

The Gaffer, being cantankerous by disposition,
could not, without contradiction, even take advantage
of so handsome an offer. He retained the hat, but,
moving towards the farm door looked round and
snarled: "He'savule that gies summat for nowt
You'll die in the workhouse. Shepherd."

«' COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.'' 5 1

So saying, he made his way to the open door, and
without any ceremony entered the kitchen. There
he found his son, sitting alone by the fire.

" Hullo 1 " cried the Gafifer.

" Hullo ! " returned George, glancing up, rather
sulkily.

Son and father looked at each other, the one stand-
ing and leaning on his staff, the other not rising from
his seat ; the young man the very incarnation of
youthful strength and comeliness, the old man the
very spirit of moral ugliness and physical decay. It
was difficult to realise that they were so close related.

"Well?" said the Gaffer, showing his toothless
gums.

"Well I " said George, defiantly.

"What brings yehereaways? Ye needn't speak
— I know. You're running after one o' them two
sisters ! "

George made no reply.

" Can't you speak ? Can't ye look me in the face,
you ? What ha you got to say ? "

" Nothing," said George, rising ; " only that from
this day forward we two part. I'm going to London, "
and he walked towards the door.

" Go, and be d d ! " cried the Gaffer, but added,

52 " COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.*'

with a shriek like that of an angry raven, "Stop ! or
111 fling my staff at your head I "

A threat which would certainly have been fulfilled
had not George, looking pale and determined, turned
and faced his father, demanding, "What more have
you got to say to me ? "

"Which o' them two beggars are ye running after ? "

"That's my business I"

" No, it's mine. Haven't I warned ye ? Haven't I
told ye that unless ye wed money ye touch no money
o' mine I "

"I don't want it!" exclaimed George, flushing
angrily.

"No ? Bah, ye're a vule, I tell ye ! There's nowt
in the world worth having but money — or money's
worth. Be wise, you 1 Some day or other, when I'm
dead — say fifty or sixty years hence — ye may own it
all. Think o' that I But ye mun bring as well as
take, if ye want my blessing. Land and money,
money and land, to add up wi' the rest — and ye may
throw in the wife, so long as she brings the dower I "

Breathed by this flight of oratory, the Gaffer fell
into an armchair standing near the centre of the room.
After a moment, he looked up and demanded —

" Where's the women ? "

«* COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE:' 53

'* Somewhere about the stables, looking at a young

colt."

*' Couple o' vules I Much they know o' beasts
and varming. D'ye know what's brought meherea-
ways ? "

'*I can guess."

" Oh ! ye're clever enough for that, are ye ? Well,
I ha' come for my money, and ye know what that
means. If Catherine Thorpe can't pay, I foreclose,
and out she'll go, unless "

Here he hesitated, and smiling at his own thought,
looked around him approvingly. Everything he saw
was warm, serene, and pleasant An air of cleanly
comfort pervaded everything, from the great black
rafters to the seats by the fire, polished by the friction
of many sitters.

Sick and disgusted, George was about to depart,
when Catherine and Bridget entered the kitchen, the
former crying, *'Such a little beauty, isn't she, Brid-
get ? " All at once they became aware of the Gaffer,
seated ominously in the centre of the floor, his small
eyes twinkling, his face twisted into a malicious
smile. Their happy faces became clouded, and they
looked at each other.

*• Morning," said the Gaffer, sharply.

54 " COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVEr

" Good-morning," answered Catherine, crossing to
the fireplace, while Bridget retired nervously to her
seat near the window. There was a pause, broken
only by the wheezy breathing of the old man, v/ho
was hugely enjoying the consternation of the women
at his appearance.

"Vine growing weather," he remarked, after a
pause.

No one answered, but Catherine looked at George,
who hung his head as if ashamed. There was another
long pause, broken at last by Catherine, who felt the
silence far too irksome for long endurance.

** I was going to send over to you," she said, *' and
to ask you^-well, to ask you to give me a little grace.
Times are bad, and I don't know where to look for
money."

The Gaffer smiled.

*' Ye don't know where to look for money ? Well,
it won't come by looking for — leastways, by opening
your mouth and gaping at the skies."

"At any rate, you can afford to wait, and George
says "

"Jarge is a vule !" cried the old man. "Never
heed him : listen to me I 'Tis a crying sin and shame
to see a lone woman ruling where a man should rule.

•' COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.** 55

Women folk don't know nowt 'cept house and dairy
work, and the best thing as can happen to j^ou is to
ha' done with varming. See ? "

As she was silent, he continued —

" And when ye say I can afford to wait, ye talk
like another vule. Fm a poor man, and what little I
have 's been hard earned by the sweat o' my brow.
My son there 's a lazybones, but Fm a hard-working
man. So when I say I want the money I mean
I've got to ha' it See ? And now I ha' made all
straight and pleasant, maybe you'll gi 'e me a glass
o' ale I "

Catherine offered him the desired refreshment with
her own hand. He rewarded her with a nod, and,
sipping the liquor slowly, observed with characteris-
tic good taste —

"Don't think much o' your home-brewing — it tastes
o' the must"

Here Bridget, who had taken up her sewing and
was looking on impatiently, arrested his attention by
an angry movement.

'*Eh, young missie, what ails ye? Happen ye
think I know nowt and see nowt, but I can see as
far into things as most men, and I knows the ways o'
women, for I ha' berried three wives. They're un-

56 " COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.**

common narvous flighty things is women, and a sore
trouble to sensible men. "

Though the observation was a general one,, there
was something so coarse, aggressive, and contemptu-
ous in the manner of the speaker that Bridget flushed
crimson and was about to retort angrily, when Cath-
erine interposed and said —

*' Never mind the Gaffer, Bridget ! The words tum-
ble out of his mouth like wasps out of a nest, and
sting anyone that's handy. He doesn't mean half
he says, and t'other halfs only bad temper and hard
living. If he wasn't his son's father I'd ask him to
step out of my house, for fear he'd sour the ale and
turn the milk."

For this sally, George rewarded her with an approv-
ing nod, but the old man, gripping his staff and
striking it savagely on the ground, answered with
a scowl —

" Don't 'ee crass me, Catherine Thorpe, for them as
won't bend I break. See ? You're only a vulish
woman, when all 's Said and done, but I'll talk sense
to ye by-and-by."

• Catherine laughed and shrugged her shoulders.
At that moment the figure of the old Shepherd dark-
ened the doorway.

" COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE:' 57

** Lawyer Hillford's round at the front door, Miss
Catherine, askin' to see ye. He's rode over from the
town on purpose/'

Catherine turned pale, for' the mere mention of the
lawyer's name at that period of difficulty suggested
troubles and complications. Bridget, too, looked
anxious ; while the Gaffer, foreseeing trouble, leant
back in his chair and grinned maliciously.

** Whatever can he want with you?" said Bridget,
going to Catherine.

*' I'm sure I can't tell," was the reply. *' I suppose
it's about money. "

'*0' course," chuckled the Gaffer. '*When the
ravens come 'tis a bad look-out for the lambs. Best
go and see him, Miss Catherine."

But hereupon the Shepherd, with a contemptuous
look at the Gaffer, interposed quietly —

" Don't trouble, Miss Catherine. I think, maybe,
it's good news. "

''Good news?"

* ' 'Tis whispered hereaways that old Adams has left
ye summat in his will. You was kind to the old man,
and when he was sick he often talked about 'ee."

*'HeighoI" said Catherine. '*More likely it's
about the balance I owed Button for last year's

58 " COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.'*

fodder. It never rains but it pours. Any amount of
living creditors, and here's a dead one."

So saying, she left the kitchen, and ran to open the
front door to the lawyer.

CHAPTER V.

A TURN OF fortune's WHEEL.

How pleasant it is to have money, heigho I
How pleasant it is to have money ! — Old Song,

Catherine was away for a long time. The blue fly
hummed in the kitchen window-pane, the drowsy
murmur of the farm came from without, while the
Gaffer, still gripping his staff, dozed in his chair.
George remained in the shadow, glancing at Bridget,
who sat sewing in her place at the window. No one
spoke a word.

Social intercourse in country districts is composed
of large intervals of silence. The deep dreamy peace
of nature slips into the dispositions of men, and
makes them taciturn even when they are fairly
happy. Life runs slowly, and thoughts are calm.
It was quite pleasure enough for Bridget to sit and
sew, first glancing occasionally towards her lover,
and for George to watch her with gentle eyes. Even
the Gaffer's presence had ceased to be irksome.

Presently the Shepherd rose, and, glancing toward

6o " COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.''

the inner passage, whence came the low murmur of
voices in conversation, moved tovvards the door.
The Gaffer, like a weasel asleep, opened his eyes and
watched the tall figure go out into the sunshine ; then,
suddenly becoming aware of his son's presence,
lie growled —

** Hcst go home, you, V\\ be coming by-and-by."

The young man made no answer, but Bridget
looked at him with a smile.

"Catherine and Mr. Hillford are having a long
talk," she said. **Ihope it's nothing unpleasant."

"I hope not," returned George.

At that moment the Gaffer pricked up his ears,
for there was the sound of a door opening and of
voices talking in the passage ; then the front door
closed and the voices ceased. But Catherine did
not appear. The three, listening attentively, heard
her ascending the stairs to the upper part of the house
and then moving to and fro in the bedchamber above.

Bridget put down her sewing, and rose, with a
nervous look at George.

"I'm sure something has happened," she said.
"I will go and see ! "

George nodded approval, but the Gaffer, suddenly
shaking off his torpor, exclaimed sharply —

«* COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE:' 6i

•• Tell her, will 'ee, that I'm waiting for my money,
and that I sha'n't stir till my money comes."

As Bridget hesitated, with an indignant glance at
her tormentor, the sounds above ceased, the footsteps
were heard again descending, and immediately after-
wards Catherine entered the kitchen.

Her face was pale, and her eyes were red as if she
had been crying ; but, despite these signs of excite-
ment, she was smiling. Without once looking at
either George or the Gaflfer, she crossed the kitchen
to Bridget, bent over her, and kissed her on the
forehead.

**0h, Catherine I " Bridget cried, returning the kiss.
* * Something has happened ? "

** Nothing," replied Catherine, with a faint hyster-
ical laugh. ** Only Mr. Hillford's so fond of talking,
I thought he would never go."

"What did he come for? Was Jasper right? or
was it only "

**I'll tell you all about it presently," said Catherine,
with another kiss ; then turning, with her old man-
ner, to the Gaffer, she added: '*Not gone yet?
Perhaps you're curious to know what the lawyer had
to tell me ? Perhaps you wouldn't mind much if it
was bad news he'd brought me ? "

6 J •• COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE,''

** That's none o' my business, "growled the Gaffer.
** Every hen must sit on her own nest Tm waiting
for my money, that's all ! "

Catherine laughed outright, and then, for the first
time since her return, looked at George, who became
the very picture of humiliation. As she looked at
him her face seemed to grow actually luminous for
a moment — flooded with light, like the new moon.
No one observed that momentary change, and no
one present observing it would have understood
its significance, as the expression of a heart full of
love to overflowing.

It came as it went, and Catherine was herself again.
Standing face to face with the Gaffer, with her arms
akimbo, she laughed anew.

''Cease thy clatter I " cried the Gaffer, striking on
the tiled floor with his staffl "Can ye pay me my
money or not, you ? "

"Suppose I can't?" returned Catherine; "what
then ? "

" Why, then, * tis a bad lookout for thee and thine,**
said the old man, setting his lips tight together and
rising to his feet. Curiously enough, Catherine only
smiled and shrugged her shoulders ; then, whisper-
ing to Bridget, led her quietly from the kitchen,

«' COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.'' 63

pausing at the inner door to cast another look at
George. Furious at this quiet defiance, the Gaffer
shuffled towards the threshold, muttering to himsel£
George followed him, sick and sad at the turn the
affair had taken, and the two came out into the full
sunshine of the farmyard.

Here George paused, and looked sullenly at his
father.

"What are you going to do ? " he asked. ** I sup-
pose you'll give them time ? "

The Gaffer's only answer was a malicious grin.

Father and son parted down among the green
lanes, the latter, finding all remonstrance useless,
having refused to accompany his father home. The
afternoon shadows were lengthening when the Gaffer,
breathing hard after his long walk, reached the
Warren Farm — a grim, dreary, tumble-down group
of buildings, for the most part uninhabitable, imme-
diately surrounded by acres of coarse land. The
place was like its owner, sadly out of repair. Por-
tions of the granaries had been destroyed by fire,
other portions were blackened and seared by the
same devouring element The habitable part of the
place consisted of a two-storeyed house or cottage,
roofed with thatch, some stables, some barns and

64 " COME^ LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.''

sheds, and a few labourers* out-houses. The farm-
yard was strewn with loose stones, and overgrown
with long grass and thistles. There was little indi-
cation anywhere of even moderate prosperity.

But the farm, like its owner, was deceptive. Be-
yond the coarse acres of The Warren, burrowed over
and under by the cony and the mole, were green
stretches of meadow and great fields heavy with
golden grain, all of which belonged to the Gaffer.
Lines of pollards showed where the streamlets ran,
watering the fruitful soil. Sleek-coated cattle sunned
themselves on the green low-lying pastures, and on
the higher slopes men and women were piling and
carting the hay.

Entering the house, the Gaffer found himself at
once in a large living-room or parlour. The chairs
and table were of common deal, but in one corner
was a great cabinet of black oak, and close to it,
facing the fireplace, a large arm-chair. The low
windows were curtained with chintz, black and de-
cayed from long use, and diffusing the musty odour
of age. An eight-day clock, several coarse engrav-
ings in wooden frames, an old and rusty "Joe Man-
ton " fowling piece suspended over the mantelpiece,
a few china ornaments, completed the furniture of

«* COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE:' 65

the apartment. There was no carpet on the floor,
but a sheepskin rug was thrown down before the
fireplace.

Still muttering to himself, the old man hobbled to
the cabinet, unlocked it with a key which he took from
his waistcoat pocket, and took out a packet of parch-
ment deeds ; then, drawing the deal table close to
his arm-chair, sat down, and adjusting on his nose a
pair of horn spectacles, began to examine the docu-
ments at leisure. As he did so, his characteristically
malevolent expression deepened in intensity. Sin-
gularly enough, however, he could not understand a
line ; for though he could just manage to spell
through a printed paragraph, he lacked the education
to interpret handwriting.

This fact did not interfere in the least with his en-
joyment. He knew the documents perfectly, par-
ticularly the one setting forth his mortgage on the
estate of Catherine Thorpe. The very words of the
covenant were so engraven on his mind that the farce
of perusal was far from being as absurd as it might
seem.

He was thus engaged, and presenting to the unin-
structed observer quite an erudite appearance, when
a shadow appeared upon the threshold, and, looking

66 " COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MVLOVE.'*

up, he met the quiet eyes of Geoffrey the overseer.

" Busy, Gaffer?" said Geoffrey, with a nod " I
hope I 'm not disturbing your studies ? "

" What brings 'ee hereaways ? " snarled the Gaffer.

" I've come from Miss Catherine, and I've brought
you that money — so make out a receipt at once,
and we '11 put an end to the matter."

'* What!" cried the old man, amazed. His amaze-
ment grew as Geoffrey produced the notes fresh
from the bank, and placed them on the table before
him. Seizing them between his trembling fingers,
and glancing from them to the bringer, and from the
bringer back to them, the Gaffer counted them slowly.
A delicious thrill caught from the crisp and rustling
paper ran through his veins.

* * Well, are they all right ? " asked Geoffrey, good-
humouredly.

Without replying, the Gaffer leant back in his chair,
as if stupefied. There was a long pause.

'* Say,^(?«," queried the Gaffer at last, ** where did
Catherine get the money ? "

** That's her business, not yours. Your business
is to write me out a full discharge."

'* ril see lawyer, and send it along," was the
reply. ** Reckon she can trust me ? "

< e

COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.'* 6/

Since the notes were numbered, and, with all his
faults, Gaffer Kingsley was straight enough in affairs
of money, Geoffrey was quite satisfied, and had
turned to go with a short " Good-day," when he was
called back.

"If it be a convenience to Catherine," said the old
man, slyly, " happen I might wait a bit"

"No need of that," answered Geoffrey, "she's
able to settle up without seeking favours of you or
any man."

The Gaffer laughed, and leaning forward suddenly,
with his eyes fixed on the overseer's face, said —

"Wager it's not her money, but yourn ! Cock o*
the walk, you^ and you come here to pay her debts,
eh ? "

Geoffrey went red as crimson, but before he could
reply the other continued —

" New notes, master, fresh from the bank, and I
saw you riding thereaway this morning. Happen
there's no law to make me take the money from ^^« /
But I'll take it, friendly like, to save trouble. See ? "

Ah angry answer was on the tip of Geoffrey's
tongue, when the door opened, and, to the astonish-
ment of both, Catherine herself appeared, accom-
panied by George Kingsley. She still wore her sun-

68 ** COME^ LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.''

hat and cotton g^wn, as if fresh from the hayfields,
and looked bright and merry. On seeing Geofl&rey
she paused a«id cried —

** Heyday, Geoffrey ! What are you doing here at
The Warren ? "

Then, her eye falling on the notes lying on the
table before the Gafifer, she continued—

"Bank notes, too I Is the Gaffer belying his char-
acter and making you a harvest present ? "

The overseer hung his head and seemed tongue-
tied, but he was saved any effort at explanation by
the old man, who exclaimed—

**'Tis the mortgage money, Missie. Master Geof-
frey brought it over, and happen you sent him I I
was just sayin' that if so be 'twould help 'ee I might
wait a bit ; but Geoffrey (cock o' the walk, him ! )
was sayin' as you'd take favours from no man — not
even an old friend like me ! "

Throughly amazed, Catherine looked at Geoffrey,
as if demanding an explanation ; then, as their eyes
met, all the truth dawned upon her, and she realised
the extent of the sacrifice the man was making.
Touched to the heart, she reached out her hand im-
pulsively, while Geoffrey, grasping it, murmured in
a low voice —

«• COME, LIVE WITH MEy AND BE MY LOVE.'' 69

"I knew you were hard pushed, Miss Catherine,
and I made bold to loan you the money till better
days."

**Nay, nay 1 " cried Catherine, '* you must take it
back. I can pay my own debts ! and," she added,
seeing his face sadden, *' don't think, Geoffrey, that
I'm not glad and grateful for what you've done. I
shall never forget it, never! But I want help from
no man, not even from you ; and I came over to say
as much to the Gaffer, and to pay him with my ows
hands."

Here George, who had been lingering in the back-
ground, stepped forward and said—

** It's all right, Geoffrey ! Catherine's a rich woman
now ! "

The Gaffer started and sat bolt upright in his chair ;
Geoffrey gazed in stupefaction at his mistress, who
broke out into sunny laughter.

** * Cast your bread upon the waters,' says the pro-
verb," she said. * * Farmer Adams has left me all he
had in the world ; and why ? Just because I went
over to him now and then when he was sick, and
made him a posset of elder wine."

The Gaffer rose trembling to his feet, and gasped
for breath.

yo ** COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE:'

"Old Adams !" he cried. "Why, he was worth
'tween ten and fifteen thousand pound ! "

"Whatever he was worth," said Catherine, smil-
ing, " he has left to your humble servant ! So you
see, Gaffer, I'm not going to be sold up this time."

"Nay, nay, Miss Catherine, " returned the old man,
his eyes full of sympathy and admiration, "you

know that was only my fun Jarge, Jarge, what

are you standing and gaping at ? Can't you offer
Miss Catherine a chair I "

CHAPTER VI.

SUITORS THREE.

Say, Shepherds, what d* ye seek ? The red rose or the yellow ?

The red blush-rose o* Love I — or the rose of shining gold ?
A maiden in her smock may tempt some silly fellow,

But yellow-boys and guinea-blooms are brighter twenty fold 1 —

The Shepherd' 5 Wooing.

It was by no means all work and no play with Cath-
erine Thorpe. It had never been so. Even in her
worst days, when she had been compelled to look
regretfully at every shilling before she spent it, she
had always been willing to spend a certain amount
on simple pleasures for the gratification of those who
worked for her, and especially for the gratification
of Bridget.

*' Passel of vules," the Gaffer used to say when he
received an invitation to go and partake of some
homely feast or supper at the farm. " But there, 'tis
like wimmen volk, they be all a passel o' fools ! '*

Still, he invariably went, and ate the food that had

j2 " COAfJS, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE^

been prepared, even while he scorned the liberality
which provided it

And now, with one fickle turn of Fortune's wheel,
all was changed. Catherine was an heiress, and an
heiress can do no wrong ; so when, as an earnest of
what she meant to do with her money, Catherine
announced that there would be no frugal supper this
year, but a right royal one, and that to the supper
would be added a dance to which nearly all the coun-
try-side would be bidden, no one, not even the Gaf-
fer, had a word to say. These festivities, however,
were not to interfere with the work ; they were to
come as a reward for labour, not as a means of
stimulating activity. The grass was all mown, but
there was the hay to be made, and not till it was all
tossed, carted, and stacked would Catherine give one
thought to gaiety.

She and Bridget had breakfasted alone. The mo-
ment the meal was over Catherine put on her
sunbonnet and took her hayfork in her hand.

"Why, where are you going, Catherine? " asked
Bridget, in surprise.

"Up to the ha3rfields, little one," answered Cath-
erine, smiling, " to see if the haymakers are working,
and to lend a hand, too, maybe. To-day the sun is

•• COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE,'* 73

shining ; it may rain to-morrow, and then our crop
would be damaged."

'*What would that matter to us?" said Bridget,
pouting. "You are an heiress now, Catherine ! "

** An heiress I " returned Catherine, dreamily.
•' Yes, but that doesn't mean that Fm a drone. The
farm's a beehive still, and I'm the queen-bee."

Bridget looked at her and laughed.

*' How do you feel now that you have so much
money ? "

" Much the same as I did before," answered Cath-
erine. " No, I don't, though — I feel glad that I can
pay my debts, glad that I can make a lady ofjyou,
Bridget"

Bridget rose, and put her arms about her sister's
neck.

'* For me, for me, always for me," she said. ** Tell
me, Catherine, why are you always thinking of me ? "

** Because I love you, little one!" The words
were simple, they were simply spoken, but they
meant so much. When folk wondered why Cath-
erine Thorpe kept such a brave heart through all her
troubles, why she toiled from morning till night like
any slave, they little knew that the only thing that
was her solace, the only bright spot to her in this

;4 " COME, LIVE WITH ME^ AND BE MY LOVE.

»»

dreary, humdrum waste of life, was her love for her
"little sister."

" You'll follow me. won't you? "said Catherine, as
she moved towards the door. " It will do you good
to have a toss at the hay ; there's plenty of sunshine
and fun up at the five-acre. "

Bridget nodded ; and Catherine, looking more like
a farm-servant than an owner of golden thousands,
went up to the work in the field.

The haymakers had been busy since early dawn,
and when she arrived on the scene they were still
working with a will. Passing through the field and
cheering the labourers with nods and kind words, she
hurried towards a shady spot near to the gate, look-
ing on every hand for Geoffrey, whom she had not
seen that morning. Instead of finding him, how-
ever, she came upon a group the sight of which
amused her not a little.

There, gathered together under the spreading
branches of an oak-tree, dressed up in their holiday
best, and all looking extremely foolish, were Mr.
Marsh, the Doctor, and last, but not least, the Gaffer !
The latter wore, in addition to a tail coat and trousers
of the last generation, an extremely high-collared
and somewhat ragged white shirt, and a tall chimney-

«• COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE,'' 75

pot hat Mr. Marsh carried a large posy of freshly
cut flowers.

** Heyday," cried Catherine, as she came upon the
group, '* here's fine company ! "

At the sound of her voice they all started, turned
towards her, and simultaneously took ofif their hats.

"Good morning, Miss Catherine, " they cried, each
and all giving her a most respectful bow.

Catherine laughed outright

"Have you been to a wedding," she cried, "that
you are dressed so gaily ? "

"No," replied the Doctor, smiling and answering
for all ; ' ' but we hope to go to one some day 1 "

"Some day 1 " they all repeated, smiling ; and then
they sighed.

Catherine stared at them in amazement ; then sud-
denly the truth seemed to dawn upon her.

"It can't be," she thought, "and yet it must be.
Bridget's right The men who despised the maid are
running after the money."

"Miss Catherine," said Marsh, advancing and
offering his flowers, " will you allow me? "

"Forme, Mr. Marsh?"

The little man nodded.

" For you. Miss Catherine," he said, " a few simple

76 " COME^ LIVE WITH ME^ AND BE MY LOVE.''

flowers of the earth. I gathered them for you my-
self

"Thank you, Mr. Marsh."

Catherine loved flowers ; she took the posy and
buried her face in it, and as she did so the Gafifer
approached and whispered in her ear.

•*I want a word with 'ee alone."

Catherine started, raised her head, and laughed
aloud.

*' What ! you too, Gafifer ! " she cried.

"And why not?" answered the Gafifer sharply.
** I'm better than a passel o' vules I "

"Anything more? " asked Catherine ; upon which
hint the Doctor stepped forward and spoke for all

"What your friends want, Miss Catherine," he
said, "is to know how they can help you, be useful
to you ? "

Catherine laughed merrily.

"Oh, that is it, is it? " she cried. "Of course you
can all help me if you have the will Here, Thomas,
Silas!" she cried to the haymakers, "bestir your-
selves ; bring these gentlemen hayforks. They are
all going to help us to-day."

" Hayforks ! " cried the Doctor, aghast

"Yes, hayforks !" returned Catherine, still with a

" COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.** 77

merry twinkle in her eye. ** You all wish to help
me, you know, and your wishes shall be gratified.
There's plenty of work for all of you, and fun into
the bargain. You shall help to turn over the hay in
this field, and afterwards you shall assist to load the
waggon in the other. There," she continued, as the
hayforks were brought to her, ** there's one for you.
Doctor, one for you, Mr. Marsh, and Gaffer, the last
one is for you I Oh, what a blessing you've all
come I We were short-handed, and I was wonder-
ing however we were to get in the hay before we
lost the sunshine. "

They all took the forks. Having got them, they
stood looking at Catherine and smiling awkwardly.
Button, the doctor, turned his about in his hand as
if it were some curious kind of implement which he
had never seen before.

** How do you work the thing ? " he said. ** So ? "
**Yes, that's the way," answered Catherine, mer-
rily. " Only don't throw the stuff over your head,
as if you were having a hay-bath. Now, then,"
clapping her hands and laughing, ** begin, all of you,
and the best worker shall win the prize I That's the
way," she continued, as they all began to work with
a will. " Right up the field and back again I "

78 " COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE :'

"Miss Catherine," said Dutton, edging towards
her ; but Catherine waved him back.

** No talking till work is over, Doctor," she said.

*' Wait here," whispered the Gaffer, ** I must speak
to 'ee, Miss Catherine, " at which they all cried — * * Fair
play ! Fair play I "

They set to work with a will, while Catherine
stood watching them with an amused smile. Sud-
denly she heard a sound behind her, and turning,
she found herself standing face to face with Geoffrey
Doone.

In a moment her face changed and became seri-
ous.

**Ah, Geoffrey," she cried, *'I was wondering
where you were I "

"I had to ride over to town about that new
machine."

''You look tired."

'* Well, it was a long ride I "

*' I'm going to scold you," said Catherine. " You're
the only one in all the place who hasn't congratulated
me!"

The man looked at her ; then he cast down his
eyes.

•'I'm very, very glad," he said.

*• COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.'' 79

*' I am sure you are."

She held out her hand to him, but, as he did not
take it, she let it drop again by her side.

"You see, Miss Catherine" he began, but she

quickly interrupted him.

** * Miss Catherine I ' " she cried ; '* I won't talk to
you if you speak like that 1 Tm Catherine to you,
Geoffrey, now and always I "

Suddenly she caught sight of the amateur hay-
makers and burst into a merry laugh.

** Just look at them, Geoffrey I " she cried ; '* there
they go puffing and perspiring I "

"What are they doing?"

"Doing? Why, making donkeys of themselves!
Ah, dear, what changes a bit of money brings I "

"It does, indeed I " said Geoffrey, with a sigh.

"Ah, but not with j^o«," answered Catherine,
quickly. "But isn't it strange? Up to yesterday,
when I was poor, I'd scarcely had an offer, and now
I do believe every one of those silly men is ready to
swear that he has always loved me."

"Not the Gaffer, surely?" returned Geoffrey,
smiling.

"Yes, even the Gaffer," she answered, laughing;
" unless *'

8o ** COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE:'

She paused suddenly and turned away her head,
but not before Geoffrey had noted the sudden pallor
and then the sudden blush. For a moment there was
silence, then the man spoke again.

** Is George Kingsley over here to-day ? " he asked
quickly.

She turned quickly and gave one swift glance at
his face.

*' No I " she answered ; '* what made you think of
htm / "

"I don't know!"

He walked a little bit away from her, switching at
the hedge with his riding-whip. Then he returned,
and found her still gazing thoughtfully at the
ground.

"Catherine 1 " he said.

"Yes, Geoffrey."

'* I'm sorry you did not let me help you yesterday ;
I'm almost sorry that you didn't need my help.
Now you are rich I can do nothing for you, and I
wanted to do so much. "

"And so you can," said Catherine, frankly.

"How?"

She laughed lightly, but, as it seemed to him, a
little forcedly.

«* COME, LIVE WITHME^ AND BE MY LOVE :' 8l

"Well, first and foremost, you can advise me,
which of these silly men shall I choose, if he asks
me ? "

** You ought to know best."

" Should I ? Well ! first, there's Mr. Button. He's
worth considering, surely, a fine doctor and an old
Soldier — but — I won't be doctored ! Am I right ? "

''Quite right I"

"Then comes little Mr. Marsh. He's a gay man
is Marsh " (here she mimicked his piping voice),
"but I think I'll leave him to somebody more
deserving."

" You've left out the Gaffer 1 "

"The Gaffer? Oh, he isn't serious, and he's had
three wives already I "

She turned towards Geoffrey ; he was regarding
her with a thoughtful, troubled look ; twice he seemed
about to speak, but he remained dumb.

"What are you thinking about, Geoffrey?" she
asked.

" I was wondering if there is anyone else you care
for— anyone you Itrve, "

* * For a husband^ do you mean ? "

"Yes, for a husband I "

She shrugged her shoulders.

83 " COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.''

**lf ever 1 did marry, and it isn't likely, it would
be someone who cared for me, not for my money."

"Yes, yes I" he cried, bending eagerly towards
her.

"But there's no hurry," she continued, with an
awkward laugh. "I've Bridget to settle first, you
know. She's so pretty, she ought to make a good
match some day, when she's older ; but of course
she's only a child now, she doesn't know what love
is."

Very quietly he took her hand in his.

" DoyoUy Catherine?" he asked earnestly.

Catherine blushed vividly and turned her head
away.

" I ? " she said. " Well, I don't know. You see,
I'm not one of your pretty ones, and I've had too
much to think of"

"Will you promise me one thing, Catherine?"

' * Of course I will ! What is it ? "

" It is this I I want you to promise me that if
ever someone you could care for comes to you and
asks you to be his wife you will speak to me, you
will let me be the first to know I "

She looked up into his eyes frankly and openly.

"As if I should not do so I " she said. "Why,

" COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LO Kff." 83

Geoffrey, that is just what I should do. There's no
one I can trust like you, for haven't you been a
brother to me all my life ? "

He dropped her hand and turned from her.

** Ah, yes, of course, I ought to have known," he
said. "Well, I think I must be going now, Cath-
erine. Good-bye I "

** Good-bye, Geoffrey. Don't forget the dance
to-night I "

"No, no, I'll not forget I shall be there I ''

He turned and left her, took his horse, which he
had left tied to the gate, and rode off to see what the
haymakers were about. Leaning on the gate, Cath-
erine watched him go, but though her eyes were
fixed upon him she hardly seemed to see him. She
was dreaming, and Geoffrey Doone was not one of
the figures in her dream.

"Is there no one I care for?" she murmured to
herself, "no one I love? Ah, I copldn't answer
that even to him. Folks mustn't know yet for fear
I'm mistaken, and I may be, who knows ? I won-
der why he keeps away so long. Has my good luck
made him afraid? Oh, if he would only come now
and look at me as he did when he said I was his best
friend, and ask me — ask me— oh, dear, how foolish

84 " COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MYLO VE. "

I am I Perhaps he doesn't love me after all 1 If I
thought that, I think I should hate all the world. . .
George, dear George I "

The sound of puffing and blowing made her start
Turning, she saw the Doctor approaching, hayfork
in hand. He was red as a peony, and the beads of
perspiration were running down his cheeks.
''Miss Catherine I"
''Well, Mr. DuttonI"

** I've been a soldier, and I'm a gentleman by birth I "
" I hate soldiers, and I'm afraid of gentlemen."
'* But you don't know what I was going to say ! "
*' I can make a shrewd guess I But what /say is
this. Go on with your haymaking, and then you can
talk to me. And, Mr. Marsh," she added, catching a
glimpse of the little man in the background, "you
do the same, or I'll never, never speak to you again.
You've got to work on to the end of the field, remem-
ber, all of you. There ! begin, begin, or you'll find
the sun sinking before you've half done."

Still puffing and perspiring, they moved off to do
as they were bidden, and as they did so the Gaffer
came forward, groaning and holding his side.

**Ah, Gaffer I " said Catherine, merrily, "I'm
afraid you're out of breath I "

" COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE :' 85

*' Let be I let be I I'll be all right directly. We
was alius good friends, wasn't we, Catherine ? "

"Yes," returned Catherine, drily, "especially
when you wanted to sell up the farm."

"Only my fun 1 I was alius fond of 'ee, Cathe-
rine 1 and you see, Missie, our lands jine together,
and it would be downright sinful to keep them
apart, wouldn't it now ? I be an old man, but I
be tough and well seasoned, and I've heaps of
brass. But maybe you wouldn't look at an old
chap like me ? "

Catherine pursed her lips and gravely shook her
head.

"No, I don't think so. It says in the Bible one
mustn't marry one's grandfather."

" Well, well, I was only jokin' like. I don't want
'ee, but there's someone else as does. Whisper, for
them fools are maybe listening. What would 'ee say
to my son Jarge ? "

As he spoke he glanced keenly at her, noted the
sudden pallor of her cheeks, then the sudden blush^
and he laughed softly to himself.

"George," said Catherine, with a sort of gasp.
" George, did you say ? "

"Ay, Jarge. I meant him for thee all along, and

86 " COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE:'

I know he alius favoured 'ee, Catherine. He's a fine
young lad and he loves 'ee dearly ? "

^* He loves me / Are you sure ? Did he— did he —
ask you to tell me that ? "

For a moment the Gaffer seemed to hesitate ;
then he said boldly: "Why, of course, or how
could I ha' thought of it? You see he be bash-
ful ; he's afraid that now you be a rich young

woman"-

" Yes, yes, I understand ! " she murmured to her-
self.

'* Say you'll ha' him and the thing's done. I know
you like him, don't 'ee now ? Come I "

Catherine cast down her eyes.

'* I — I don't hate him," she said ; '* and if he loves
me as you say "

'*Love 'eel 'Father,' he's said to me a dozen
times, 'I can't live without Catherine.' But what be
the matter ? You be crying ? "

*'No, no," answered Catherine, quickly. "Tell
George if he really likes me so much, tell him — tell
him ah, I can't speak, hyiiyou know ! "

"You'll marry him ? " asked the Gaffer, eagerly.

" Yes, I'll marry him I " she said, as if dazed and
stupefied.

" COME^ LfVB WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE :* ^'j

"Well, then, 'tis settled. Come into my arms and
gi'e me a kiss to make it a bargain. "

He put his arm around her shoulders and she
yielded to his embrace. As she did so there was a
cry ; it came from the panting pair of suitors who
had quietly returned and were looking on.

"Here, come, what's this?" they cried, "You
don't mean to say "

"I mean to say," answel^ed the Gaffer, smiling
maliciously, " that she's chosen the best man, that's
all 1 "

"Chosen^ow — Miss Catherine?" cried Button and
Marsh in a breath.

"There, there, keep back both of you and don't
look so astonished I " cried Catherine, entering into
the humour of the situation. "Yes, the Gaffer is
right I I've chosen, and if you doubt it, look there I
and there I "

So saying she placed both her hands on the Gaffer's
shoulders and, very much to his amazement, kissed
him roundly on both cheeks. Then she seized her
fork and ran off, and was soon hard at work helping
the haymakers.

CHAPTER VII.

IN THE GREEN LANES.

For her love I carke and care,
For her love I droop and dare,
For her all my. bliss is bare,

And I wax wan I
For her love in sleep I slake,
For her love all night I wake,
For her love 1 mourning make
More than any man ! — Love-longing (A.D. 1300).

While Catherine dreamed as she tossed the hay,
Bridget dreamed as she walked in the green ways.

She was a thing of light and air and sunshine, frail
and slight as one of the gossamer threads floating from
tree to tree. Slipping from the house, she tripped,
parasol in hand, until she gained the shadows, which
she loved because they were gentle to her complexion.
She listened to the sound of the distant haymaking,
then looked admiringly at her pretty white hands.
She did not wish to have them tanned with the sun
like Catherine's, neither did she wish to have them
broadened and made coarse like the hands of a farm-

" COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.'' 89

servant There was plenty of time for the haymak-
ing, despite what Catherine had said ; the fine weather
would last and the crops could be got in without her
help. So, instead of going up to the five-acre, she
lost herself among the lanes.

After she had sauntered for a while she sat down
on a grassy bank and began to think, whereupon
there happened what every lover thinks a miracle,
but is really an everyday occurrence. Suddenly, as
she sat there thinking, she became aware that she
was not alone ; someone had taken a seat beside her ;
someone had placed an arm around her waist ; some-
one was kissing her I At first she made no attempt
at resistance ; it all seemed so unreal, so much a part
of her dreamy thoughts — then like a frightened bird
she struggled to get free.

*' I have caught you, and I hold you I " said George ;
and he kissed her again.

Bridget put up her small white hand.

"You mustn't do that," she said softly,

'*Why? Do you mind?"

'*Well, no, it is not that," she answered simply;
"but you will be seen."

"Don't be afraid ; they are all too busy at work up
in the hayfields. And, Bridget, listen to this. My

90 " COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.*'

father is up yonder dressed in his best ! What does
it mean ? "

'Tm sure I don't know, unless he's courting Cath-
erine."

George laughed.

"Well, he's capable of it, now she's an heiress.
What a stroke of luck for her 1 "

"You may well say that It came just in time."

"I know that . . . Bridget"

"Yes, George."

"I suppose you are wondering why I kissed
you ? "

"Oh, no — I mean," she continued, faltering and
blushing, " I ought to be wondering why I let you ! "

"It is the first time, Bridget," said George, tenderly
taking her hand.

She did not withdraw her hand, but let it rest peace-
fully in his, while a soft dreamy look stole into her
eyes.

"Yes," she almost whispered, "it is the first time."

"But of course you knew all about it ? "

"About the kiss do you mean?" she answered,
smiling.

"No ; about the love which prompted it Come,
be frank with me. You knew I loved you ? "

" COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE."* 91

Bridget looked mischievously at him, and pouted
her pretty lips.

'* I'm not a witch," she said, '* to know everything."

"Well, you suspected it, didn't you, Bridget?
Somehow, I've never had the courage to speak right
out to you ; but now, when I'm going away, and it
may be for a long time, I should like to feel that I
leave someone behind me who will be thinking of
me, perhaps longing for my return."

"Of course we shall all hope for that, George."

'* But^o« above all ? "

"Well, yes, of course I — oh, George I " she cried
impulsively, "I think, yes, I am sure, I did know,
and it made me very happy."

" Then you care for me as I care for you ? "

"Yes — oh, yes ; I care for you."

"And by-and-bye, when I have a house to oflfer
you, you will be my little wife ? "

"Yes, George!"

"Then, as a token, kiss me as I kissed^y^w."

At this request her face became crimson. She cov-
ered it with both her hands.

" I couldn't ; oh, I couldn't I " she cried.

He took her hands from her face and held them
firmly.

92 " COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.'*

*'To prove your love, Bridget," he said, *'come.
kiss me just once."

He bent his face towards her. She looked up at
him, blushed, hesitated, then she kissed him lightly
on the cheek. In a moment her imprisoned hands
were free. The young man's arms were around her,
while his kisses rained upon her cheek, her eyes, her
lips ; and between each kiss his voice murmured
passionately : "Ah, Bridget, how I love you I "

This unrehearsed love-scene had had a spectator ;
none other indeed than Geoffrey the overseer. Saun-
tering leisurely through the neighbouring field, he
had heard the sound of voices, and, on looking over
the hedge, he had seen the lovers locked in each
other's arms.

Without more ado he leapt the hedge and suddenly
stood within a few yards of the pair.

The lovers started asunder ; then, recognising the '
intruder, George regained possession of Bridget's hand
while she stood blushing beside him.

"Miss Bridget," said Geofifrey quietly, "your
sister s up yonder in the hayfield looking for you."

"I'll go to her," said the girl. Looking into the
face of the young man beside her, she added : "You
will come with me, won't you, George ? "

" COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE/' 93

Before the young man could reply, Geoffrey laid a
detaining hand upon his shoulder.

"I have a word or two to say to George," he said.
**Run away alone, Miss Bridget"

*'ril follow," said George, quickly. **Wait for
me in the hayfield ! "

"Very well," answered Bridget, and she tripped
away through the shadows, filling them with her own
sunshine.

Both men stood watching her as she went. When
a bend in the lane hid her from their sight, Geoffrey
turned to George.

'*So that is how the land lies?" he said.

'*Yes," answered George.

He w^as still looking at the spot where the girl had
disappeared.

"What will the Gaffer say ? '^

** I neither know nor care. We're parting com-
pany."

' ' And — and Catherine ? Does she know ? "
"I've never told her. This is the first time I've
dared to tell anyone outright, even Bridget But
Catherine and I are the best of friends, and I'm sure
she'll be glad to hear the news."

" I hope so, my lad, but women are strange some-

94 '• COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.

»f

times. I've just seen her in the field looking brighter
and happier than she has looked for many a long day.
While I was with the haymakers she came and joined
them and began to work with a will ; but just before
she came up she had been with the Gafifer. They
had been as confidential as if they shared some merry
secret together. Poor Catherine I I hope her happi-
ness will last, but sudden changes often bring rain
and storms. Promise me one thing : don't tell her
of this to-day."

The young man shrugged his shoulders.

"I have nothing to be ashamed o£ I shall leave
it to Bridget"

'* Warn the little one not to talk of it either, to-day."

" But why ? "

"Never mind Catherine has her humours like
all of us; she might think you had not been
quite open with her. Well, well, take my advice
— a friend's advice. And now your hand I wish
you luck."

* ' Thank you, " answered George. " And now may
I wishjj'ow luck also ? "

Geoffrey started

" Me ! " he replied. "What do you mean ? "

"A lover's eyes can read the heart, Geoffrey," said

•• COME, LIVE WtTHME, AND BE MY LOVE :' 95

George. ''What I feel for the little one, you feel for
Catherine."

" I ? Oh, nonsense I "

"Come, what is there to be ashamed of?"

"Nothing," said Geoffrey, "only I don't wear my
heart upon my sleeve like you youngsters. . . . And
if I did care for Catherine, what then ? "

" I should say you were the only man in the world
who deserved her."

"Loving and deserving don't always dwell to-
gether."

"In your case they do."

" I'm not vain enough to think that, George," said
Geoffrey, quickly. "And, besides, if I did, what
would it matter ? Women are like birds ; they choose
their mates to please their fancy ; a sweet voice and
fine feathers have the best chance both in house and
hedgerow. And you, a lover, ought to have learned
this long ago : a bird knows by instinct when it
pleases, and a man knows by the same token when
he has no chance."

"Why do you talk like that, Geoffrey? I'm sure
Catherine respects and likes you above all men."

"Likes and respects me I " returned GeofiFrey, bit-
terly. " Ah, that's the pang of it : liking and respect-

96 " COME, LIVE WITHMEy AND BE MY LOVE:'

ing don't make the sort of match by which the birds
pair. Hark to that, George I " he continued. ** Yon-
der's the lark singing, and if you strain your ears
you'd hear the mother-bird answering below. There's
no ' liking ' and ' respecting ' there I It's music out
of the full heart. It's the pleasure of life itself. It s
the sunshine of blind and happy love"

" Speak to her. I am sure she loves you."

"Let be, let be," said Geoffrey, sadly. **I must
bide my time, lad, and do you take the advice of one
older than yourself, and bide yours. Don't speak to
Catherine to-day, and don't let the little one do it,
either. Let the sun shine while it will ; clouds and
rain will follow soon enough. "

The two men parted, but at five o'clock that
afternoon they met again, up in the hayfield.
Here they found toil still going on, and among
the workers was Catherine, while Bridget stood
at a distance calmly looking on. Catherine, who
seemed radiantly happy, had placed herself at the
head of a pair of fat white oxen which were yoked
to the haycart

"Come now, work away I " she cried. " Pile on
the load and forward, for there will be rain."

Suddenly her eye fell upon the two men who had

«(

COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.'' 97

come up. She stepped forward at once to speak to
them.

"Geoffrey ! George ! " she said

** How bright you look ! " said Geoffrey.

" Do I ?" answered Catherine. " Well, I think I
tievet felt so happy ! "

*< There, the work's done, the waggon is loaded ! "
cried the Doctor.

"Then up with you, little one, to crown it," sai4
Catherine, laughing merrily. "Cpn^e, George, lift
Bridget on to the hay I "

Nothing loth, George stepped forward to do as he
yras bidden, while Bridget laughed and blushed as
she felt his arms about her.

' "There! " he said, when he had deposited her
safely on the top of the load, where she sat perched,
parasol in hand.

"Well done ! " cried Catherine, clapping her hands^

" Jarge I Jarge I " said the Gafifer, pulling at his coat.

"Well?"
* "Where ha' you been? Every other person has
been congratulating Catherine on her good luck, and
now it be your turn ! "

Frank and honestly George turned to Catherine and
extended his hand.

98 " COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE:'

*'I do congratulate you, Catherine, with all my
heart," he said.

"Buss her, lad I buss herl" cried the Gafifer.
" Eh, now, she's blushing and holding out her cheek I "

It was true. Blushing vividly, and with eyes
downcast, Catherine held up her cheek for the young
man's salute. He kissed her. A few paces off stood
Geoffrey, quietly and sadly looking on. In a mo*
ment Catherine recovered herself.

"Come, that's enough of foolishness," she said.
"Forward!"

Amid the shouts of the haymakers the waggon
moved forward, leaving only the Gaf!er and Geoffrey
behind.

"Eh, you be there, Master Geoffrey," said the
Gaffer, "looking sour, and dour as usual."

"Think so?" answered Geoffrey, carelessly.

"Don't I know it?" said Gaffer. "And shall I
tell 'ee what you be thinking about? You be think-
ing that who's cock o' the walk one day bean't alius
cock o' the walk, and that Master Geoffrey mun make
way soon for my son Jarge."

"What do you mean ?" asked Geoffrey.

" I mean that she's ta'en him for better or for worse,
and that they'll have my loving blessing."

COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE:* 99

** Do you mean to tell me that she's going to
marry him?"

"Make no mistake about that"

"But he— he"

'* He's a young vule ! " returned the Gaffer, bitterly.
" But he'll ne'er quarrel wi' such good fortune ; the
best match in all the world. Will 'ee come wi' me
and congratulate her? No? Well, mebbe you be
best away I "

The Gaffer moved off in the direction which the
haycart had taken, and left GeofiFrey alone.

"No," he said to himself. "I can't look her in
the face, knowing what I do. Poor Catherine I And
she said 'twas the happiest day of all her life I "

CHAPTER VIIL

THE GAFFER IS BUSY.

Who plays with Love doth play with flame.
Who lightlies Love shall sink in shame,
So, men and maids, take warning X^^Old Ballade

Early the next morning both Catherine and Bridget
were astir making preparations for the dance which
was to crown the haymaking. The hearts of both
were full of joy which they could not express. Brid-
get gazed in wonder upon Catherine, thinking she
had never seen her look so happy, and Catherine
looked at Bridget with puzzled eyes, thinking she had
never seen her look so fair.

"It must be the money," thought Bridget, when
she heard Catherine singing little scraps of song.
** Ah, dear 1 how she must have hated being poor,
when money can make her so joyful."

Then she fell to thinking of George, and her eyes
sparkled and her bosom heaved with joy.

'*He will come to-night," she thought '*I shall

100

"COME. LIVE WITH laE, AND BE MY L0VE:> iqi

will be beside me all the time,
ask him if I may tell Catherine

dance with him.
Dear George !

to-night."

She was glad that Catherine had become rich, and
that riches seemed to bring her so much happiness.
Her love for George seemed less selfish now. Had
Catherine remained poor and downcast, surrounded
by debts and duns, with no comfort in the world but
the presence of her sister, Bridget would have found
it so hard to confess to George that she loved him,
it would have seemed like sacrilege to Catherine —
like taking from her a part of something which should
have been wholly hers. But now the case was
altered. She could not explain why it was, but she
felt a subtle instinct within her, which told her that
during the last twenty-four hours a change had come
over both of them. She no longer felt that in lovingf
George she was false to her sister ; perhaps it was
because she felt that ,'ihe was no longer the one thinp
which held sole possession of her sister's heart So,
while Catherine worked and thought, Bridget stitched
and dreamed.

Both were silent, but both were very happy. Pre-
sently Catherine paused In her work and looked at
her sister. Their eyes met

I02 " COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE. ^^

''Of what are you thinking, little one?" asked
Catherine.

"Of you, Catherine!"

"Of me ? " said her sister in surprise, " and what
were you thinking of me ? "

" I was thinking how happy you have been since
yesterday. Ah, dear, what changes money can
make I "

'* The money ; yes, yes, it is the money, little one,"
returned Catherine, laughing. **It gives one happi-
ness, as you say I "

** I hope it will never come between you and me I "
said Bridget, thoughtfully.

In a moment her sister was beside her, kissing her
passionately.

"Never say that again, Bridget, and never think
it Nothing could come between us. You believe
that, don't you, little one ? " she added, stroking her
cheek.

" Yes," said Bridget. " I believe it."

"And now you are crying," continued Catherine.
" You are foolish, Bridget. Look brighter, or I shall
think you are not glad to see me happy. There,
there I run away to the barn and see how the work
is going forward. Everything must be gay to-night I "

" COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.'' loj

There soon came sunshine through the shower.
Bridget put on her hat, and, after blowing a kiss to
Catherine, ran off to do her bidding. Catherine
gazed thoughtfully at the door through which she had
passed.

' * Can the child suspect ? " she thought. **. Ah 1 no,
it is not possible, and I could not tell her ; she is
such a child she would not understand. Well, her
turn will come some day — after a long time, perhaps
— and then she too will be happy."

There came a knock at the door.

** Come in," cried Catherine, and the Gaffer entered

He approached Catherine and embraced her affec-
tionately.

"My daughter I" he said. "Well, what did I
tell'ee?"

* * Have you spoken to him ? " asked Catherine
blushing and trembling.

"Just a word I He can't quite believe yet, poor
lad, that he's so lucky, and, besides, he be so bash«
ful. But, look I I was to give 'ee this ! "

" A ring ! " said Catherine, amazed.

"His own mother's: all solid gold. He thought
'twould come prettily to show how much he loved

ee.

t04 '* COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVEr

Catherine took the ring and kissed it

•• How good of him I " she said. " I'll wear it till
I die."

" Or till parson changes it for another," said the
Gaffer, slyly. "Ah, but you seem dreadful fond of
him I "

' * I love him, " answered Catherine, smiling. •* I've
loved him ever since I can remember. But when I
was poor I thought 'twas useless hoping and dream-
ing, for you were a rich man and he was your son.
But now it's different I can answer him with a full
heart and bring him all I have I "

" The land I the money ! " said the Gaffer, eagerly.
" Not that he cares for that, poor vule," he continued
by way of apology, '*he's so mad with love for 'ee.
Say, Catherine, there be one I know who didn't relish
to see my Jarge kissing thee so bravely. "

*'Who?"

"Why, overseer, of course. Master Geoffrey's
trying to spoil sport/'

"Geoffrey Doone has no right" — ^began Cath-
erine

"Of course, of course," said the Gaffer, slyly,
" but he'd like to keep cock o' the walk still But
when you're wedded he'll go about his business, eh ? "

"COME,LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE." 105

" Nay, he'll be overseer still," returned Catherine.
" He has been my best friend ; I owe all I have to
him."

"Why, look, there be Jarge I " cried the Gaffer.
Catherine turned and saw Geoi^ standing in the
doorway.

"Good morning, Catherine," said the young fel*
low, "Where's Bridget? By the way," he added,
stepping forward, "what do you think I heard this
morning — why, that my father has proposed for you
and that you are going to marry him, and here I find
him I" He added, laughing, " I confess it looks
rather suspicious I "

"A good Joke that, eh, Catherine?" said the
Gaffer. laughing nervously and looking anxiously
from one to the other.

"Yes, indeed, a good joke," answered Catherine,
gazing fondly at George. "I must talk to them."

" Do," said the Gaffer, " and I'll take Jarge along
' o' me and talk wi' him. "

"Very well," returned Catherine. "You'll besure
to remember to-night, won't you, George?" she
added. "There's to be a dance in the big barn;
Bridget is there now, setting things right for it."

"Bridget in the barn!" said George, turning

Io6 '• COMEy LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE ^

towards the door. ''May I go and help her, Cath-
erine ? "

"Yes," answered Catherine, "go and help her I
And, George, thank you for your gift It was so good
of you, so like yoursel£"

"My gift?" said George, making a movement
towards her, but his father promptly held him back.

* * Leave Jarge to me now, " he said ; * * he's narvous.
He'll be wi"ee to-night"

"Ah, yes, to-night at the dance," said Catherine.
" You must come to me, George, remember. And
your father is right to take you away. You must
not speak to me now. I'm so happy that another
word would make me cry I "

Utterly puzzled and amazed, George was about to
reply, but he was seized in a strong grip, hurried out
of the kitchen, and not till he had left the farm several
yards behind was he allowed to speak.

Then he turned to his father.

* * What is the matter with her ? " he asked. ' * What
makes her seem so strange ? "

The old man grinned with delight

" My doing," he said. " Shake hands, Jarge ; I 've
got thousands o' pounds for 'ee and fifteen hundred
acres o' vine land. You've only to take them."

*• COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE :* 107

"I don't understand," said George, who certainly
looked sorely puzzled.

"Then you're a vule," returned his father, sharply.
* * I 've got 'ee the farm and the money, and Catherine
too. She'll have 'ee, she'll have 'ee ! She's mad
wi' love for 'ee already I "

"Catherine loves me \ " said George ; ** nonsense,
we're like brother and sister — that's all 1 "

''Brother and sister! Why, I ha' told her you're
ready to marry her if she'll only say the word."

"You told her that}'* cried George, angrily.

"Yes, I did I"

" Then you told her a falsehood. I don't love her ! "

The Gaffer grinned.

"Well, love be a detail. You be agoin' to marry
her ! "

" Never ! "

" She's got all the brass and all the land."

" What are they to me?"

" Everything, unless you be a bom vule. Don't
'ee go and break my heart, Jarge ; don't 'ee go and
tell me you favour someone else. "

" But I do favour someone else ! "

' ' You do ? Who is it ? Who is it ? A&/ the litUe
sister?"

Io8 " COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE,**

** Yes ; Bridget I And she has promised to be my
wife!"

The old man ground his teeth and clenched his fist

"Take care, Jarge," he cried. " Don't 'ee provoke
me I Don't 'ee tell me you're running after that
penniless wench. Flying in the face o' Providence I
Think o' the money — think o' the land 1 "

** I have told you that I care for neither I " returned
the young man, coldly. "I'm going to London to
fight my own way ; with what I can gain and the
bit of money my mother left me "

" You can't touch that without my will I"

"It's left in your keeping for my use, it's mine,
and I mean to have it. "

"Not a penny !"

"The law will make you give it up, "

"Take the law against your father ! " said the old
man, whining a little, "against him who's planned
all for your good ! Come, come, Jarge, listen to
reason. Don't be a mad, headstrong vule. Marry
Catherine. "

" I cannot, even if she cares for me. It is Bridget
that I love I "

"Vule of vules!" cried the old man, angrily,
" wanting to take that pale-faced, penniless chit

" COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.** 109

when Catherine is yours for the asking. Tis
Bridget who's done this 1 I should like to strangle
her wi' my own hands ! "

**Take care I ho threats against her I "

'* Ye won't marry Catherine ? "

"No, never I"

'*^And you'll marry the sister ? "

" Yes, for I love her I "

*' You sha'n't, I'll kill 'ee first I " cried the old man.
In a moment he sprang upon his son, and seizing
him by the throat, shook him violently. George,
who was much the stronger of the two, submitted for
a few moments, then he quietly released himself.

'*Keep your hands off me," he said.

** Keep my hands off 'ee I " screamed the old man.
*' I'd like to tear 'ee into bits, and her too, the schem-
ing, smiling, pale-faced hussy I But you sha'n't ha'
her I you sha'n't ha' her 1 or if ye ha' her ye shall
starve ! D'ye hear ? Starve ! So mind what I've
told ye ! "

This time George did not answer, but followed his
father in the direction of the barn where Catherine
had said Bridget was working. He had not gone
far, however, when he met Bridget running rapidly
towards him, her face pale and anxious.

1 lo " COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.''

*' Where are you going, George ? " she asked as the
young man took her hand

**I was going to look for you, Bridget," he replied.
" Catherine told me you were in the big barn making
ready for the dance."

** Has anything happened ? " she continued, noting
the grave expression of his face. '* What is tlie mat-
ter with your father. He passed me just now, look-
ing white as death, and when I tried to speak to him
he shook his clenched fist in my face."

The young man laughed uneasily, and stroked the
girl's cheek.

'* No fool like an old one, Bridget," he said.
** lies been meddling as usual."

"But how?"

"Well, I'm almost ashamed to tell you; it's so
absurd. He wants me — you won't be angry, Bridget,
if I tell you ? "

"Of course not."

"Well, he wants me to marry Catherine 1 "

"What?"

" Worse than that he's actually spoken to her
about it" .

"What?" said Bridget again, and she laughed
heartily.

" COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.'* 1 1 1

" I hope she won't mind," said George.

** I'm sure she won't ! I understand now why she's
so merry and full of fun, laughing every minute. A
little while ago she caught me around the waist and
kissed me, and then shevsaid^ still laughing: ' Oh I
those silly men I They won't leave me alone now
I've got money. But we'll lead them a fine dance,
won't we, Bridget ? ' "

"That's just like her. Have you told her about
our engagement ? "

** Not yet I mean to tell her to-night, when the
dance is over and everybody is gone. I'm sure she
thinks you like me."

"My face has been a tell-tale, eh ? "

"Perhaps. But your father, he'll never forgive
you, I'm afraid I "

"Then he must do the other thing. I'm not a
chattel to be hawked about in the market as he
pleases. Listen, darling : you must promise to be
very good and to wait patiently till I've a home to
offer you."

"Of course I'll wait. I'm not in a hurry to
marry."

"All girls say that!"

**But I mean it. I'm very happy as I am."

112 ''COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE:^

" But you love me ? "
She looked \ip laughing.

" Will you come with me to the bam ? " she said ;
''there is still much to dp, and you might be useful"

CHAPTER IX.

A THUNDERBOLT.

We were two sisters of one race. . .

She was the fairest in the &ce. — Tennyson,

The dance in the big barn was a huge success, the
fun boisterous, the refreshment copious, and every-
body full of natural merriment. From Jabez the
herd to Button the doctor, from Jasper the shepherd
to Mr. Marsh the tax-collector, from Amandy the
dairymaid to Catherine and Bridget, there was
nothing but fun, freedom, and equality. The Gaffer
was there with his son, both looking a little anxious ;
but when George led out Catherine for the country
dance the old man seemed relieved.

The evening was wellnigh spent, but the merri-
ment was still at its height, when Catherine slipped
from the crowded barn and stole away far from the
sound of music and merriment to the quiet solemn
beauty of the moonlit fields.

She wished to be alone — to think— to ask herself if

her cup of happiness were indeed full, or if the bitter
lu 8

114 ** COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.'*

had already begun to mingle with the sweet of love.

That morning, all that day in fact, she had counted
herself the happiest woman in the world. But
human happiness is never supreme ; be one's joy
ever so great it never seems more than an earnest of
a greater joy to follow, and though Catherine had
spent the day in the realisation of the one great joy
of her life, yet she had looked forward to the evening
as a time when her happiness would reach its very
height Love had brought her gladness ; how, then,
could that gladness be complete without the presence
of the one bein^ whom she loved better than her
life ?

In the evening, she thought, George would come ;
he would take her hand^ he would whisper in her ear
that he loved her^ he would kiss her, perhaps ; and
with those words ringing in her ear, that kiss fresh
upon her lips, she felt that she could die. But, now
that she was alone, Cathenne was fain to confess
that her joy had received a check. True, George had
come-^he had taken her hand — he had danced with
her — he had looked into her eyes — he had called her
Catherine — **dear Catherine!" He had congratu-
lated her before them all — he had rejoiced in her good
fortune, because he said her happiness was as dear

•■ COME, LIVE WITH ME, AXD BE MY LOVE."

to him as his own. And yet there was something in
his manner which she could not understand — some-
thing which seemed to check her ardour, and which
kept her tongue tied when she was burning to
whisper in his ear "George, I love you I "

Wondering and dreaming, she wandered she knew
not whither. At last she sat down upon a grassy
bank and held her hand to her head. Something
cold touched her forehead : she looked at her hand.
It was George's ring ! His ring ! Yes, there it was,
shining upon her finger — the little golden circlet
which he had sent her as a pledge of his love.

*' It is all real," she murmured. " I am selfish in
my happiness. I want too much; it should be
enough for me to know that he loves me as 1 love
him."

She kissed the ring again and again and again ;
then, propping her chin in her hand, she sat gazing
dreamily at the dimly moonlit meadows. She sat
for some time lost in thought

Suddenly the sound of voices struclt on her ear.
She listened. She was not the only wanderer that
night! The sound came nearer; Ivvo figures were
approaching the spot where she sat,

Instinctively, she never knew why, she leant

1 1 6 " COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE."

farther back into the shadow of the hedge. Nearer
came the sound Suddenly Catherine's heart gave a
great throb ; she had recognised tlie voices : one
belonged to Bridget, the other to George Kingsley.

She sat still, scarcely breathing. The sound of
the voices ceased, but the figures came on. They
paused close to the spot where Catherine was wait-
ing. Their backs were towards her — ^by stretching
out her hand she could almost have touched the hem
of Bridget s dress.

They stood close together ; Bridget was clinging
to George's arm. He was looking down at her — she
was looking up at him.

Presently he spoke.

'* It doesn't seem real," he said. ** But it is true,
Bridget ; you love me I "

" Well, yes, I do love you, of course."

" Of course," he said, and he kissed her. Bridget
laughed softly.

" You must get your father to consent," she said.

*' Well, I will try — but he is stubborn."

" Like his son."

** And having once got into his head that I ought
to marry the heiress he'll be a long time coming
round." ^^^

'*COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE:* 117

** What a strange idea," said Bridget, *' to think of
your marrying Catherine ! "

*' It was strange I You see, what weighed with
the old man was the money and the land."

*' And /have neither. ''

*' You have what I prize far more — your own dear
little self."

Bridget laughed again, and again he bent down
and kissed her. She put up her hand to turn his face
away.

* * You must be more respectful, " she said. * ' Come, .
let us return to the barn."

" There is plenty of time."

**No: we must return, or we shall be missed."
They moved on again — their voices sank to a
murmur — then they died, and all was still. The.
moonbeams still trembled on the meadow, the cool
night breeze kissed Catherine's cheek, but she did not
stir. The silence all around her was broken by one
sound which dinned incessantly in her ears —

* * / low you / / love you / "

Presently she rose and stood at her full height As
she did so, her limbs began to tremble : she clutched
at the air as if for support.

**My God I what is it?" she thought, '* what is

X l8 " COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE^

this coming over me 1 — it feels like death 1 He loves
her — they love each other ! Ah, no, it can't be true.
I won't believe it — it is too horrible ; and yet I might
have known it I was too happy — it could not last
And shCy my own sister, has come between us — she
who was dearer to me than all the world. As she
looked into his eyes, as his kisses fell upon her face,
all my love was turned to hate : I could have killed
her where she stood. No no I " she cried aloud.
"Not that! don't turn my heart against her\ the
little one for whom I would have given my life ! "

Slowly, languidly, she walked back towards the
bam ; when she got near to it she paused again.
How could she enter it? — how could she face the
lights, the merriment, the people ? How could she
meet Bridget and George ? She felt she could not :
she must creep away, as some wounded creature
creeps away to die.

The fiddles were still playing merrily ; she heard
shouts of laughter. All her friends were rejoicing
over her good fortune. What a mockery it all
seemed I

Shivering as if with cold, she turned away, and
made for the house.

All the farm-servants were up at the barn. The

" COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.'' 1 19

kitchen was empty, save, for a big black retriever
which slumbered near the window. As Catherine
came in the creature rose and licked her hand. She
sat down by the table and buried her face in her
hands. The dog sat beside her, and rested his head
on her knee.

Presently the teisirs trickled through her half-closed
fingers ; she gave a great sob. She rose, paced rest-
lessly about, then sought her own room. She seemed
to be waiting for something — what that something
was she could not telL

Hours passed. It seemed an eternity to Catherine.
Suddenly she heard someone stirring in the kitchen.
She tried to move, but could not.

She sat before the empty grate, her hands crossed on
her knees> her eyes staring vacantly before her. The
door of her room opened, and a voice murmured —

"Catherine!"

It was Bridget who spoke. Catherine did not stir
or speak, she seemed turned to stone. Bridget came
forward and looked at her sister in alarm.

' * What is the matter, Catherine ? " she said. * * You
are not well."

She made a movement as if to approach her, but
Catherine put up her hand to keep her back.

I20 " COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.''

** I am not ill/' she said.

* * There is something the matter I " said Bridget
"Tell me what it is. Tell me why you left the dance
and came here all alone."

But Catherine did not answer; she put her hand
to her head like one in pain, and gave a low heart-
broken moan. Still wondering and terrified, Bridget
again approached her and was again waved back.

** You are in trouble, Catherine, and you must tell
me what it is that I may help you I "

' * You help me ! " said Catherine, bitterly. * * Fou / "

** Yes, dear — who has a better right ? Do not turn
away from me, Catherine. I want you to be tender
to me to-night, for I — ah, it seems wicked to say it
when you are so sad — I am so happy. Listen, Cath-
erine, I wish to tell you about George. He loves,
me — he has told me that he loves me ! "

Catherine turned her white face towards her sister.

** Why do you tell me what I know already ? " she
said bitterly.

** You know it ? " cried Bridget, ** and you are glad ! .
Oh, Catherine, tell me that you are glad.^

**Glad?" she answered, still in the same hard,
bitter tone. **Yes, very glad.*'
Bridget gave a sob.

' " COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE,'' 121

"Catherine, Catherine," she cried, ** you are angry
with me ; tell me why. Perhaps you think I should
have told you before, but indeed I only heard it
yesterday for the first time, though, of course, I
guessed. Do you think I would have kept it from
you — you who have always loved me, and whom I,
too, have loved so much ? "

** Loved me I You I" said Catherine.

**Ah! yes, and you know it," returned Bridget,
** and, indeed, it is because you have always liked
him that I learned to love him. Don't think, Cath-
erine that my love for him will ever change my heart
towards^ow. You will always be the same to me,
my sister — my own dear sister. Catherine, you are
crying ! What is it ? Won't you tell me, dear ? "

She put her arm around her sister's neck. Cath-
erine hurriedly pushed her aside.

** Don't touch me ! Don't speak to me ! " she said.
'*Go, and leave me to myself 1 " •

"But you are in trouble! Something has hap-
pened ! "

"Nothing, nothing ! "

"You're not angry with me? "

Catherine rose impatiently to her feet.

"Why won't you leave me?" she cried. "Why

122 '* COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE:'

do you torture me with your presence ? I tell you I
am sick to death of all the world 1 Everything is
false, even those we care for most I This is how we
are punished ! We give our lives away for others ;
we sacrifice ourselves for them ; we toil and suffer
for their happiness ; they reward us with treachery
and lies I "

**I have never lied or been treacherous to you,
Catherine, I have always loved you."

** It's false ! " she cried. "You have never loved
me. I have reared you as if you were my own
child — I have worked and slaved, and all for you —
and now what is my reward? But there I that is all
over ; 1*11 work and slave no more for them that scorn
me. I am rich now. I can rest ; it w^ill be your
turn now. Yes, you, the fine lady, will have to
work now to earn your bread ! "

"Catherine! Catherine!" cried Bridget. "What
are you saying ? Why are you so bitter against me—
you, who have always been so kind } "

"Ah! you can cry now," said Catherine, "and
whine and pretend not to understand, but you can't
deceive me any more. I'm past that. You have
plotted and plotted, smiled and coquetted, to win his
heart, and never said one word to me. But don't

• * COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.** i f 3

tell me agfain that he cares for you— don't ! unless
you wish to drive me mad. "

**But why? You have always liked him too."

"It is false! I have always haled him!" cried

Catherine. ** And I hate him still. Bui j^ou sha'n't

marry him! You canno/l He has nothing — you have

nothing! You shall never marry him — never-^

never ! "

This time Bridget did not answer. A light seemed to
dawn upon her. She looked at her sister in dumb
amazement and terror ; then with a cry she covered
her face and sank to the ground.

•*Oh, Catherine," she cried, "forgive me, dear;
forgive me! I did not understand, but I see
now how blind I have been. 1^«— -you care for
him ? "

"And if I do?" returned Catherine, bitterly.
** Have I no right even to do that ? Am I so coarse
and common that I'm only the dust beneath his feet ?
You're a dainty lady, and I am only the drudge, the
breadwinner ; but if your skin is white, and men
think you pretty, it's because 7'm tanned with the
sun and coarsened with wind and rain. If your hands
are soft it's because mine are red with hard work,
and now if I am despised and thought common it's

124 " COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOFE."*

because I've given all my life and all my youth to
make you what you are I "

*'0h, Catherine, I know that!" sobbed Bridget
"Do you think I can ever forget it — my sis-
ter ? "

** I am nof your sister I " cried Catherine, fiercely.
** Henceforth I am nothing to you ! Do you hear?:
nothing 1 Our lives have been together, but from,
to-night they part You can go your way, I will go
mine. Yes, go after your lover. Take the way he
took — leave my house! Go before you make me.
worse than I am — go, or "

In her frenzy of passion she raised her hand as if
to strike her sister. Bridget uttered a scream ; as she
did so a man who had been standing unobserved in^
the doorway interposed between the two. It was
Geoffrey Doone.

Bridget clung to him in terror.

** Softly, Catherine, softly," he said gently. "You
frighten the little one."

"Stand aside, Geoffrey, " said Catherine. "Don't
^ou come between. us."

"Catherine!" sobbed Bridget, " my own Cath-
enne !

* * Out of my sight, " cried Catherine fiercely. * * For

*» COME, LIVE WITH.ME, AND BE MY LOVE:' 125

I hate you ! Yes, I hate you — I hate him — I hate
everything in the world ! "

** Catherine," cried Geoffrey, ** you are mad ! "

"And if I am, what's that to ^o« ? I tell you, I am
done with all of you — yes, done with you for ever."

* ' Don't be so cruel ! " cried Bridget. ' ' Don't speak
so harshly to me ! You know I never meant to harm
you, and you will forgive me ! "

* * Never, never, never ! You have poisoned my
life, and hardened my heart There's nothing left
now but hatred — yes, hatred, and most of all for
you. Go, and never come back to me ! Go, and
never let me see your face again 1 "

"Come, Bridget," said Geoffrey, quietly. "We
will leave her to herself."

Still sobbing and clinging to him piteously, Bridget
allowed herself to be led from the room, and Cath-
erine was once more alone.

All that night Geoffrey Doone sat in the g^reat
kitchen with his eyes fixed sadly upon the stairs
leading up to Catherine's room. He sat perfectly
still, always listening. For hours she paced the
room above. Then there was silence.

Geoffrey approached the stairs and listened in-
tently. He heard sounds of wild sobbing.

I j6 •• COME^ LIVE WITffMEt AND BE MY LOVE.''

"Thank God ! " he murmured; then he stretched
himself in the great ingle, leaning hie head back
against the wall, and slept

CHAFTER X.

THE SISTERS.

Grind, grind. Wheel o' the MiU!

Hard is the stone above, the stone below.
Between them slips the grain, while swift and still

Overhead the great £uis go !
Hard as the millstone is my heart; in pain

I watch the winnowing of the weary grain,
And weep in woe I — The Mili-Smig,

Night fell upon the farm and the surrounding
country, its mellow darkness tempered by passing
gleams of starlight, and now and then lit almost to
rivalry with day by the beams of a full summer
moon, drifting and shining between fleecy clouds.

Bridget sat alone in her room, still dressed. The
window was open, and she watched the square space
upon the floor, on which the moonlight fell, with that
dull, mechanical interest in trifles which follows a
heavy mental shock, awaiting for its reillumination
whenever a passing cloud darkened it, and tracing
its progress nearer and nearer to her feet as the leaden-
tooted moments crawled by.

1 28 •• COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.''

She had wept till she seemed to have no more
tears to shed, her eyes and brain were burning, her
heart was as lead in her bosom, and her breath was
as tremulous as the sea the day after a storm.

Catherine's fiery words rang in her ears with an
iteration which had long since robbed them of mean-
ing. Once or twice she caught herself repeating the
phrases in a sobbing undertone. Her suffering was
as that of an animal, dumb, indefinite, piteous ; she
had lost the power of centralising it, of dwelling on
any one of its causes.

That Catherine should have spoken such words —
that George should be as unhappy as herself — that
the beautiful dream of an hour or so ago should be
so suddenly broken — it was all like a hideous night-
mare, without even the conviction of reality which
nightmare brings with it. It was all real, she knew ;
but it did not feel real — her benumbed mind could
not grasp or believe it She asked herself again and
again, could she be wandering in her mind ? Once,
impelled by an irresistible impulse, she went to the
bedside and looked at the vacant pillow with a dull
expectation of seeing her real self lying there asleep.

*' I must be mad ! " she said to herself, and, in a
momentary pang of torture at the thought, called out

«» COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE:' \ 29

to God to spare her reason ; and, almost in the act,
fell back into her stunned condition.

To this succeeded Nature's anodyne, and, unawares,
Bridget fell into such a sleep as one might fancy blots
out the being of the condemned criminal on his last
night of life — a heavy, dreamless lapse of uncon-
sciousness.

She awoke to find the moonlight on her face, and
to see the great mellow orb of night hanging like a
mild lamp in the square of deep blue heavens visible
through the window of the chamber. For a mere
second her senses were full of the refreshment of
sleep, and then, with a sudden awful heartpang,
her grief fell back on her, and she sprang to
her feet, hiding her face in her hands with a stifled
scream.

Slumber had renewed her tired senses only to re-
new the bitterness of memory ; the dream-atmos-
phere which had dwelt about the events of the
preceding day was gone, each fact and word stood
out, sharp edged and distinct. Her tears began to
rain anew, her body writhed as in an actual physical
torture.

** Catherine ! Catherine ! Catherine ! '* she wailed
between her sobs, in a tone of such bitter entreaty

130 •• COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE:^

as she might have used to stay a blow from her
sister's hand.

Then, in a sudden fever of resolve to end the strife
which to her young and tender heart was a profane,
almost blasphemous reversal of the law of nature,
she crept from the room and stole like a ghost through
the darkened corridor to the door of Catherine's cham*
ber. Her hand fell in the darkness on its cold, smooth
surface, which seemed to chide her.

'* Catherine I" she cried again, with a choking
sob.

The sound seemed very loud in the dead stillness
of the house, though in reality it was hardly louder
than a whisper.

She slid to her knees to await the answer.

None came, and she leaned against the door, with
cheek and hands touching it. For a moment her
own agony was gone, she thought only of the dear
sister lying so near to her, alone and unhappy, and
she longed with an intense desire to feel Catherine in
her arms, to soothe her sorrow, to renounce George
even, if only their old sweet and unbroken affection
could be restored.

''Catherine, Til give him up ! " she moaned, in the
same strangled voice, and still no answer came.

« COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE^ 151

**OhI my darling, speak to me! Let me see your
dear face again ! Tell me you don't hate me any
more, tell me you didn't mean those dreadful words
you spoke last night ! "

Silence still reigned within the room, a silence
which crushed her heart like lead, and rang in her
ears like the beat of a distant tide. Then she became
aware of a thin spot of light upon the opposite wall,
and traced it to the keyhole of the door. She peeped
through, but could see nothing, though the light
somehow seemed friendly and encouraged her to
stay. Presently she heard a stir within the room, a
rustling movement followed by a heavy sigh. She
held her breath till it broke from her in a sob. A
chair grated on the floor, the thin spear of light
vanished and reappeared.

*' Catherine I " she cried, with her lips to the key-
hole, "Oh, Catherine I"

Her sister's voice sounded on the stillness, two
words which fell on her brain like clods upon a
coffin-lid.

''Go away!"

She cried her name again, with a tone of agonised
entreaty, and the same hollow sounds answered
it

132 " COME, LIVE WITHMEy AND BE MY LOVE.'*

**You are killing me! I shall die if you are so
cruel ! Oh, how could you, how could you ! Cathe-
rine, please ! Oh, listen to me I It's Bridget, your own
Bridget, your own little sister calling to you."

" Go away 1"

The voice sounded fateful in its hollow, monotonous
repetition of tlie words, and the poor child obeyed,
creeping back to her room with slow steps and
smothered sobs which shook her whole body like
heavy blows. She threw herself upon her bed, and
the tears flowed freely.

Her healthy young nature began to assert itself
after a while. Her lifelong submission to Catherine
as the elder and superior, whose word was law,
whose smile was sunshine, and whose anger was the
one thing she had dreaded in all her innocent life,
was not proof against the natural reaction of her
individuality.

*' Is it my fault that George loves me ? " she asked.
**What harm have I done to Catherine in loving
him ? "

The thought steeled her against her sister's angry
injustice, though only for a little while. The habits of
a life are not broken in a minute, and the thought of
having to face Catherine in the morning, and for

" COME, LIVE WITHMEy AND BE MY LOVE ^ 133

many mornings yet to come, reawakened her
distress.

She lay with closed eyes, trying to realise the life
before her, a life devoid of Catherine's constant
affection and ail its evidences.

The effort to conjure up the future cast her naturally
back upon the past, and as she remembered detail
after detail of her life with Catherine she began to
feel guilty and selfish. How good Catherine had
been, how tender and gentle I with what a wealth of
affection she had watched and tended her 1 There
were moments when she almost hated George for
coming between them, though a second later she was
crying her lovers name and pathetically beseeching
him to protect her, to take her away and shield her
from her sister's anger.

When she opened her eyes the room was full of
the soft, diffused light of early morning, and the sky
was blushing faintly in prophecy of the advent of

the sun.

She went to the window and leaned out, bathing
her face in the fresh breeze, and pressing the leaves
of the trailing rose-vine, wet with dew, against her
aching forehead and hot cheeks. The mists were
rising from the distant hills, and a faint wind stirred

134 •* COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE:*

the flowers of the garden and carried their fresh cool
odour to her nostrils.

Presently she became aware of a dim figxire hover-
ing beyond the confines of the garden, and before her
eyes had assured her of its identity, her heart cried
out to her that it was George.

She shrank back into the darkness of the room
and watched.

Yes, it was George, and, as the light broadened,
she could make out his face quite clearly. It was
pale, and there was a mingling of pain and exultation
upon it as he looked towards her window. She
longed to give him some sign of her presence, but
was withheld by some nameless mingling of emo-
tions, and she watched him as he moved slowly and
reluctantly out of sight.

It was broad daylight by this time, and the farm
was beginning to wake to its daily round of life.
The poultry-yard had been astir for two hours past,
and now an occasional strident low came from the
cow-shed. She heard the shutters of the kitchen
window clank against the wall below, and a clatter
of crockery came through the open window. A
yawning farm-servant began to sweep the yard, and
soon after Amanda, with her print gown tucked

" COME. LIVE WITH ME. AND BE M¥ LOWEV

135

Up about her calves, passed with a mil king-stool.

The time was approachuig when Bridget must
meet Catherine again, and she trembled at the
thought

A glance at the mirror revealed her face, all pale
and tear-stained, her hair dishevelled. She repaired
the ravages of her night of tears, and as she did so
her eyes fell upon her dress, a pretty robe of muslin,
decorated with pink ribbons. She had been proud
of it yesterday, but now it struck her with a pang of
shame as she remembered Catherine's plain garb of
cotton. She slipped it off, and in its stead assumed
a rough serge dress she was accustomed to wear
when it took her wayward fancy to join in the work
ofthefarm. Herhands, soft and white, embarrassed
her — they were so different from Catherine's, but she
could not change them as she had changed her dress.

She awaited Amanda's knock at her door with
gaining tremours, but when if came, took her cour-
age h deux mains, and descended to the parlor, Cathe-
rine was there, and received her with frozen silence.
Her face was hard, and as she and Bridget made a
mockery of breakfast she did not once glance at the
timid figure silting opposite to her. The meal fin-
ished, Catherine rose, and was passing from the

136 " COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.

room, when Bridget sprang from her chair and ran
to her.

** Don't touch me ! " cried Catherine, shrinking
back.

But Bridget, the tears running down her cheeks,
clasped her close.

"Oh! Catherine, Catherine," she cried, between
her heart-broken sobs, ** won't you speak to me?"

Catherine's figure trembled and stiffened suddenly,
she unwound the arms which clung about her, not
violently, but with a calm determination more terrible
than violence would have been. She held Bridget's
wrist for a moment, looking at her with a hard, set
face.

**I hate you!" she said; then, with a deadly
calm, and releasing her hold, she walked from the
room.

CHAPTER XL

FATHER AND SON.

Which are you wooing, my son, my son ?

The brown maid or the white ?
The brown has gold, but the white has none.

Take heed your choice be right !
For if you choose the penniless thing,

Foul shall your fortune be !
PU dower ye both with a hempen string.

To hang both her and thee. — TAe Miller^ s Thun^,

Meanwhile, George Kingsley, after lingering mis-
erably about the place in hopes of catching a glimpse
of Bridget, until he dared linger no longer, reluctantly
walked home to the Warren Farm.

He picked his way through the familar weeds of
the yard, entered the door, hung his hat on a rough
iron rail driven into the panelling for that purpose,
and found himself in the dingy room in which he and
his father took their meals together. The old man
was bending, pen in hand, over a battered table set
in the light of the window, and either was, or feigned

137

138 *' COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.

to be, too deeply engaged in perusing the papers
littered before him to turn or look up at the sound of
his son's footstep on the uncarpeted floor.

*' Fifteen thousand seven hundred and fifty-six
seventeen and ninepence ha' penny i' the funds," the
old man muttered relishingly. " Eighteen hundred
out on loan at good interest Farm and plant I
ain't took stock of 'em lately — say another five
thousand, and it's more than that If that young
vule knew what he was jeopardisin' "

George moved, and the Gaffer turned at the sound,
with a grunt of alarm, clutching the papers in a
disorderly armful.

**What d'ye want, jyou?** he panted at the dim
figure, with a scowl. "Oh, 'tis 'ee, Jargel What
a fright 'ee give me, /o be sure. You're late."

** I've been for a walk," answered George, moodily,
sitting at the other table, littered with the remnants
of the old man's breakfast, a few scraps of rusty
bacon-rind, and an empty tin can which had con-
tained buttermilk.

*'Eat your victuals, lad," said the Gaffer, turning
the papers into a drawer and transferring the key to
his pocket '* I've got summat to say to 'ee."

**I don't want any, thank yov/' answered George,

"COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVEr

139

"So much saved is so much gained," said the
affectionate parent. "Jarg-e, lad," he went 011, with
as near an approach to a caressing, wheedling man-
ner as his vulpine features and harsh voice would
admit of, " don't 'ee he a vule, now don't 'ee ! Listen
to reason. I've been takin' count o' things. Cath-
erine Thorpe's come into money — a lump o' money.
Ten thousand pounds 1 It's enough t' make a God-
fearin' man turn atheist to see the luck o' some folks.
Ten thousand pounds for a bottle of elderberry wine,
and it's took me fifty years saving an' scraping, down
early and up late, to make the double of it. And 1
be a twenty fhousander. It 's all yourn, Jarge, in
the course o' nature, if so be as you've got the sense
to take it The lass is as fond o' you as a cow is of
her calf. I've sounded her, and I know."

George made a movement of impatience,

"Now, now!" said the old man, wheedlingly,
"listen, Jarge, listen! I be middling tough, and
perhaps you thinks 1 be going to last for ever. All
theKingsleys is long lived," he added apologetically,
"it's in the breed. Jarge, I've been thinkJn'l "

(His little redeyes twinkled with the very con-
cupiscence of gain, and he stammered with eagerness,
his tone changing from its wheedling note to a

I40 " COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MV LOVE.

threatening one and back again.) " Don't be a vule.
Don't throw thirty thousand pound into the gutter.
Ye won't ha' so very long to wait for my brass. Twenty
years — fifteen, may be — ten, perhaps, '11 see me under
the sod ! " He peered eagerly into his son's face to
mark the effect of this pleasing prophecy. "And
the wench's money 11 be yourn, right away, when
ye marry her. Ye'll leave the church door with ten
thousand pound, not to speak o' the farm, as 'd be a
good property with a man to look after it. Damn
'ee ! " he cried, his anger at the young man's obsti-
nate perversity breaking to the surface in spite of his
endeavours to repress it, "what is it as ye wants?
My money ? Not while I be livin', my lad !

"But I'll tell'ee what I'll do," he added, falling
back into the coaxing tone. He mopped his forehead
and gasped, greed tugging at his very heart-strings.
* ' I'll sign a deed of partnership — me to keep what
I've got, and you to share and share alike wi' me in
the vuture, and to have all when I die. Will thai
suit 'ee ? Will that suit 'ee, Jarge ? "

"Can't you understand, father," said George, with
a weary impatience, " that it is quite useless for you
to talk to me about money in this matter I My mind
is made up. I'll marry Bridget if she'll have me,

" COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.'' 141

tho' we haven't more to begin the world with than
the clothes we stand in at the altar."

**Ye can't do it, Jarge," wailed the old man.
**It's agin nature. Ye can't do it I What I Ye
will ! " he half screamed, as his son rose and walked
towards the door. ** Don't ye provoke me to curse
'ee. I be your father, and the curse'll stick to 'ee. "

Rage and cupidity so inspired him that he stood
straight, looking more than his real height in the full
glow of paternal piety and virtue.

* * Father 1 " cried George, turning on him in an anger
which for the moment was as hot as the old man's
own. ** A pretty father you've been to me truly 1 "

** But I be your father I " cried the old savage, stand-
ing on the vantage ground of his paternity.

"Then, father," said George, growing cool as sud-
denly as he had become heated, *' give me my due
and let me go."

** Your due I " screamed the Gaffer. *' Ay, that I
will. May God"

*' No ! " interrupted George, with a mockery which
tasted bitter in his own mouth, ** I don't mean that;
I mean the portion that falleth unto me. My mother
left me a hundred pounds a year ten years ago."

The Gaffer dropped from the patriarchal to the finan-

142 •* COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.**

cial with a suddenness which might have seemed
more than a little ludicrous to a third person, had
any been present

*' And what about your keep, and your clothes, ye
hulkin' good-for-naught?" he asked indignantly.

' ' Take what they cost you, " said George, " and give
me the rest Tm going to London, and then I'm
going to marry Bridget"

** Damn her, the whey-faced slut I " cried the Gaffer.

• ' Stop ! " cried George. * ' Say what you will of me,
but yousha'n't abuse her."

The old man broke into a torrent of interjections,
and spat insults and curses on the name of his son's
sweetheart George left the room, fearful lest his
anger should make him forget himself. The un-
venerable old man was his father, and violence to
him was impossible. The Gaffer followed him to the
yard, heaping curse on curse,

"Go and rot I YouVe no son of mine 1 " he screamed
hoarsely, as George's figure disappeared into the
roadway. He stood at his threshold, mumbling in-
sult and anathema between his toothless gums for
five minutes after. More even than his son he hated
the innocent girl who was the cause of their quarrel,
and vowed revenge against her. What form that

" COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.*' 143

revenge could take was not clear to him, but so good
a hater would find a way.

George went towards the farm, his heart at first full
of rage against the harsh and sordid old man, whose
parting curses still rang in his ears. It was hardly
his fault that he had never had much afifection for his
father, who neither gave nor demanded it What
education, what half-seen glimpses he had of the
large world outside the mean little circle in which
Gaffer Kingsley was content to pass his life, and to
which he would have condemned his son, the
boy owed entirely to his mother. He would have
been employed in scaring crows or cutting turnips
instead of at school, if the old man could have had
his way ; but the mother, yielding in all else, had
been resolute in that, and had insisted on spending
some portion of her patrimony in educating her son.
Luckily for George, she had lived to save him from
his father's sordid tyranny until he had stood on the
verge of earl^ manhood, and he had never lost the
advantages thus gained. The Gaffer, while openly
and noiselessly contemning his '*book-larning "and
"finicking pursuits," had grown to have a sort of
sullen respect for them, for there is nothing a man
of his sort fears as superior knowledge.

1 44 •• COME, LIVE WITH ME^ AND BE MY LOVE.^*

George dismissed his angry thoughts of his father as
he walked on, and turned his eyes to the future.

**We must face the world together," he said
cheerily. **The little girl won't fail me, God bless
licr ! She's a brave little woman. I've a hundred
u year, a pair of hands, and a head on my shoulders,
not quite empty, thank God and the dear old mother 1
Things aren't so bad after all. I must persuade
Bridget to marry me at once. What's the use of
keeping apart now we know each other's minds ? . . •
By Jove, there she is ! Hi ! Bridget I Bridget,
my darling I Why, she's running away from

.__

He had caught sight of his sweetheart's slight figure
in the field, a hundred yards away from the road,
walking slowly with bent head. At the sound of his
voice her pace had quickened. With an unformed
fear in his mind, he leaped through a gap in the
hedge and ran in pursuit of her.

'* Bridget, it's I. It's George. Won't you stop and
speak to me ? Why, you're crying ! " he said, as he
came level with her. '* What is it, dear ? "

He took her by the waist, and tried to draw her
hands from her face, but she resisted, and swung
from his grasp.

" COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.*' 145

** Bridget! Are you offended with me ? What have
I done? Speak, dear. Tell me what troubles you."

She was sobbing as if her heart would break, and,
as he enfolded her again, dropped her head upon his
shoulder, and so stood, with her arms about, his neck.

*'What is it, my darling? "he asked again, be-
wildered by these signs of sorrow. *'What has
happened ? "

'*0h, George," she managed to get out at last^

*' you must go away ; you must never try to see me

again."

*' Not try to see you I " echoed George, with a

laugh and a caress. ** You little goose, what silliness

have you got into your pretty head ? "

*' You must go, George. You mustn't love me
any more. You mustn't think of me. Oh I don't
laugh," she cried. ''I mean it Indeed, I mean it.
No, please don't kiss me ! Go away, leave me ! "

**Come, come," said her lover, "if I am to go
away and leave you, at least I have the right to ask
why ? "

At that her tears and sobs redoubled.

''Oh! I can't tell you. It's too dreadful. I've
been crying about it all night, till I must be a per-
fect fright"

146 •* COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE:^

" YouVe what you always were — the prettiest girl
in England," said George, drawing the tear-stained
face to his cheek. * * Come, dear, tell me the trouble.
It must be very bad if /can't save you from it," he
added, with a fond and tender boastfulness. * * Come,
what is it ? "

Caresses and entreaties were of no avail for a time,
but at last Bridget sobbed out :

" It's Catherine !"

" Well," said George, *' what about Catherine ? "

" She knows," sobbed Bridget, *'that you 1-1-love

me."

**She would be very blind if she didn't," answered
George. * * But what if she does .? "

*'0h, it's you who are blind," said Bridget
'*She— oh, how can I tell you? She \o\Q,syou \ "

George nodded. The old man's assertion was true
then, and no mere vulgar ruse to turn his thoughts in
the direction of Catherine's money.

'* She told me last night," continued Bridget, with a
fresh outburst of tears and sobs, '* and she said — ^she
said "

' * What did she say ? " asked George.

'* She said she hated me ! She said I had stolen
your love from her, that I had come between you. It

«• COMEy LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.'' 147

isn't true, George, say it isn't true. You loved me
first and always, didn't you ? "

"Of course I did, my darling," said George, draw-
ing her closer.

**Ohl but you mustn't," cried Bridget "You
mustn't love me. You must go away, and not part
Catherine and me. What shall I do if I lose her ?
She has been everything to me — elder sister. She
has been so good, and she loved me so. And

now "-

Tears choked her utterance.

"Listen, Bridget," said George, gravely. "I
knew something of this. I learned it from my
father yesterday. You know him, and how fond he
is of money. He found out that Catherine cared^for
me ; he told her that I loved her. He is driving
me away from home because I won't give you up.
I am going to London to make a living for you, to
make a home to take my darling little wife to."

*' I can never be your wife, George — I cannot
give up Catherine's love, even for yours. "

Bridget spoke steadily, without even a quaver in
her voice to show how much the w^ords cost her.

" My love and duty must be hers," she added.

" Try and look at things sensibly, dear," George

148 '* COME, LIVE WJJHME, AND BE MY LOVE. ^*

urged. "It is better that one should be unhappy
than three. I could never marry Catherine, what-
ever happened I can never marry anybody but
you. Catherine is a sensible girl, and will come
to understand before long. She is only unreasonable
in being angry with you — it is my father who has
made all this unhappiness. He had no right to try
to pledge me to your sister. Give her time to think
it over, and she will see things as they really are."

Bridget shook her head.

"You don't know Catherine as I do," she said
despairingly. *' She hates me. She said so. She said
dreadful things last night. No, George," she went
on, as he made a motion to take her in his arms again;
"That is all over. I can never be your wife. I
should bring you nothing but ill fortune, and I
could never be happy for thinking of Catherine.
We must part, George."

She stopped her ears with her hands as he attempted
to speak, and, with a bursting sob, ran from him.
He stood looking after her, dazed and bewildered
by this sudden wreckage of his hopes. He felt
numbed and stupefied, and remained where he was,
looking at the spot at which Bridget's figure had
disappeared, long after she was out of sight

CHAPTER XII.

THE SHEEPFOLD.

Touched by the flying cloud's dark skirt of rain,
The Sheepfold lay upon the lonely height—

And, murmuring ever like a thing in pain.

Troubled with low monotonous refrain
The peace of day^ the silence of the night.

— Songs of the Weald,

High up on the Weald, overlooking the farm, the
village, and the farther country, and even, on fine
days, catching a glimpse of the far distant grey of
the sea flecked with an occasional sail, old Jasper
the shepherd lived in silent communion with earth
and sky. Sixty years of his long span of life had
been spent there, and for the most part in solitude,
for the thin track, mainly worn by his own feet,
from the sheepfold to the foot of the rising ground on
which it stood led nowhere but to the sheepfold^ and
in inclement weather the old man often passed a
full week without beholding a human face or hearing
a human voice.
Long use had made this almost complete solitude

«49

1 50 " COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MYLOVJS.**

not only endurable, but necessary to him : and when,
as sometimes happened, his needs drew him to the
villaj];e, he lingered there as short a time as needs
be, and returned with all possible speed to his lonely
**hut on wheels."

Without bearing much resemblance to the disagree-
able human *' variety " known as a cynic, he had but a
poor oi)inion of human nature, and greatly preferred
the society of the beasts he tended to that of his fel-
low-creatures. They neither drank nor quarrelled
nor fought, nor spoke evil one against the other, but
lived their lives in a dumb contentment hardly deeper
than bis own, and with as little thought of what the
morrow might bring.

Densely ignorant of nearly all the world calls
"Knowledge," unable to read even the simplest
sentence, he had accumulated, in his long life of soli-
tary musing and observation, an amount of odd lore
which had made him a proverb for miles round. Not
even the learned Culpeper could have taught him
anything regarding the natures and properties of the
herbs and plants which grew upon the Weald, huge
bundles of which piled in the corners of his hut, and
suspended from its rude rafters scented the air
with their arid aromas. He could decipher as keenly
as the oldest sailor the meaning of every flow of wind

" COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE,'' 151

and every film of cloud, and could tell the hour and
minute of the day with unfailing accuracy so long as
sun or star was visible.

Rather, it would seem, seeing the extreme solitari-
ness of his life, by intuition than by experience, he had
a keeneye for human character, and the few visitors
to the Weald who exchanged words with him never
failed to carry with them some quaint retort or scrap
of dry philosophy. His solitude had bred no shyness
in him, and he would have spoken his mind to a
king with the same philosophic indifference as marked
his intercourse with the peasants who came to him for
herbs and charms. Nothing of a money lover, he
was a keen hand at a bargain, and there was a vague
idea among his neighbours that old Jasperhad a fairish
sum hidden away in a corner of his hut, or buried in
some spot on the Weald. When, as sometimes
happens, he was chaffed about this secret hoard, he
neither encouraged the notion nor denied it

**rve got enough to lay me under the sod decent,
and ne'er trouble the parish. In the bank ? No, no I
Banks bust, and then where are ye? Him as can
find my money's welcome to it, if ye think it'll pay
ye for the s'arching."
Banks, it was pointed out to him, gave interest
** Interest! What's the use of interest, when ye

152 ** COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.'*

don't know from day to day whether the principars
safe ? What's the use o' interest to me, with ne'er a
chick nor child to come after me ? I leave interest
to Gaffer Kingsley and his like, as has got nothing
better to think about. Money's like fire — a good
servant, but a powerful bad master. It's a curse
oftener than a blessing. What's the good on it after
you've got enough, as is soon got. Ye can't smoke
more than one pipe at a time, nor drink more than
one mug o' beer, can ye, or live in more than one
house ? When you've got your belly full, what more
can Queen Victoria have? Them's the notions as
comes from living in towns and cities, where a parcel
o' vules spends their lives, among bricks and mortar,
raking in the muck o' the gutters for money. Look
at the sheep, a deal wiser than most Christians. When
they've had enough they lie down and wait till they're
hungry again."

It was the night after the haymaking feast and
dance. Jasper had penned the sheep within the fold,
and, with his dog between his knees, was smoking
a contemplative pipe before turning in, and scanning
the sky through half-closed eyes.

" There '11 be a storm afore morning," he said to
himself. " It 's blowing up from the sea, and them
ragged bits o' cloud mean a power o' rain."

''COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.'' 153

The dog pricked Ifis ears and gave a warning
growL

" Quiet, Speed," said Jasper. '* What's coming,
lad ? "

A shrill, warning voice, as of one who had drunken
not wisely but too well, was heard ascending the
slope —

<* It was a little maid, and a pretty little maid.

And a merry little maid was she ;
And I says, * My little maid, and my pretty little maid.

Will you come through the woods with me ! * "

" Hold up, man ! " cried another deeper voice.
" It's that vule Marsh," said Jasper, "and there^s
Doctor Dutton with him."
Marsh broke into song again.

<< But the pretty little maid was a wicked little maid.
And she '*

" Hoho ! Shepherd I Hoho I "

Mr. Marsh, considerably the worse for liquor, sur-
mounted the final knoll with the aid of Dutton, who,
being perfectly sober, was severely reprimanded by
his companion for the unsteadiness of his gait

*' Stand straight, Doctor! or the Shepherd will
think you've been drinking. Yes, Shepherd," he
continued, shaking a doleful head at Jasper, "it's

154 ** COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.

me — or, at least, it's all thift is left of the gayest
man in the parish. Oh, Marsh ! Marsh 1 " he con-
tinued in a maudlin self-pity, *' 'tis the rates and taxes
has done it again. It's hard to be pleasing to the
women, and to be defeated allays by prejudice of
occupation."

•* What's he talking about? " asked Jasper.

'* Why," said Dutton, "he was a-settin' his new
beaver at the mistress — in good company, too, for /
was hankering that way — when that young sprig
from The Warren come in and won the prize."

*'What? Master Jarge?" asked the Shepherd.
" Well, ye don't surprise me, though it seems to have
surprised him^'* with a nod at Marsh. *' I've seen it
comin' for months past"

** There's no accounting for the ways of women,
from Eve downwards," said the lovelorn collector of
taxes. ** With me in the market — me — she passes on
to that young whipper-snapper I "

.** And you passed on to ale and sperrits, Mr.
Marsh," said Jasper, chuckling. "And mighty little
comfort ye seem to ha' found in 'em. Where be ye
a-going so late ? "

" Across the Weald to Wyscomb, where I've a
sick call," said Dutton. " This hod-me-dod clung to
me, and wouldn't leave me."

«« COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.** 155

'* Brothers in misfortune," cried Marsh, with
drunken affection ; '* partners in misery I Leave you
— never I Shepherd, you can read the future. Can
you tell me what's to come of all this?"

*' To come o' it ? " repeated Jasper, drily. "A vine
headache i' the morning ! "

** Here's somebody with a lantern I " said Marsh,
looking fixedly in front of him and swaying on But-
ton's arm.

" Lantern be d — d," said Button. ** It's the moon
rising, you idiot I "

"/s it the moon?" asked Marsh, with feebly ele-
vated eye-brows. *'No," he said emphatically;
"no, it isn't the moon. It's a-dancing up and down I"

*' Look here," said Button, " I've had enough of
you. You'd best go home."

" Never," said Marsh, clinging to him tighter than
before. " 111 never leave you. We're companions
in misery. Le's have another drink. We'll drown
the little Coopid in the bowl. Goo' night, Shepherd,
Go' blew y© I ' For it was a little maid. ' Do try and
walk %if9A%\i\, Doctor. "

With a iOundleM laugh from behind his short pipe,
Jasper watched the little man stagger away.

" No fool like an old fool," he said. " Oh I the
vanity o' them poor human creatures ! "

1 56 " COME. LIVE WITH ME, AMD BE MY LOVE.

>»

He rose, and, with the faithful dog at his heels,
moved towards his hut, when another figure rose
from the lower ground, and he recognized Geoffrey
Doone.

'* Why, Measter Geoffrey, " he said, '* whither away
at this time o' night ? "

** I was taking a ramble," said Geoffrey, **and I
heard voices. Who were they ? "

**That silly creature Marsh, the tax-collector, and
Dutton, the vet They brought me news from the
farm. "

Geoffrey made no answer, but moved on silently
beside him.

* * One man takes trouble one way, and one an-
other," said Jasper. ** Cheer up, Measter Geoffrey,
cheer up 1 We've all been through it one time or
another. I had my fancy once. I said Fd die when
she threw me over. But I didn't. Tm hale and hearty
yet, though it's more than two-score years bygone,
and the daisies have been o'er her this many a day,
poor wench ! It's no discredit to a man, for the daft
creatures couldn't tell ye why they take one and not
another. Shes a bit sensibler than most of 'em, I
used to think, but "

** You're on the wrong tack, Jasper," said Geoffrey.
** Those fellows have misled you, as they've been

^ COME, LIVE WITHME^ AND BE MY LOVE^ \ 57

misled by the Gaffer themselves. Miss Catherine is
not going to marry George Kingsley. It's Miss
Bridget he's after, and a pretty kettle of fish it is,
altogether. The two sisters have quarrelled — at least
Miss Catherine did her best to make a quarrel of it,
but it was all on one side. She was unjust, unrea-
sonable."

"Ay," said the philosopher of the Weald.
"Woman like. Their heads can't hold more than
one notion at a time. But now you've got your
chance, Measter Geoffrey. Go in and win-"

"My chance? " asked Geoffrey.

" Ay, surely," said Jasper. "There no such time
for coortin' maid or widow than just when they've been
disappi'nted of another sweetheart. If she'd ha' been
the sensible wench I took her for, you'd ha' churched
her long ago. You'll have her yet, if youVe got the
spunk to try. Who should she turn to for comfort
but to the man as has stood by her all these years, as
has seen her through such a mort o' trouble. Up and
at her, lad ! Up and at her 1 "

Geoffrey shook his head.

"Catherine isn't that sort of woman, Shepherd.
I daresay it's true of most of 'em, but not of her. She
loves the lad. Think how much she must love him
to turn on Miss Bridget like that, and say the things

158 " COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.''

she said ! She, who ne'er had a bad word for a dog.
There's a kind of flirting, vulgar woman, that could
be persuaded to marry any one; just to show an-
other man she could do it, to spite him ; but Cath-
erine Thorpe isn't that sort "

" Pretty much of a muchness /'ve found 'em," said
the old misogynist ** There's differences, o' course,
just as there is in sheep. They're white and black,
big-horned and small, short-faced and long ; but
they're sheep, when all's said and done. And women
is women ! "

Geoffrey shook his head again.

'* I'll go to the hut. Shepherd, and take a bunch of
your dandywort, and make my walk some use.
Pincher's been off his feed a bit lately. Are the
lambs coming along well ? "

'* A decent year we've had," said Jasper. ** But
many losses."

They walked to the hut together, where Jasper
sought and found the herb Geoffrey had asked for.

*•' Will ye stay and take a bite, Measter Geoffrey ? "
he asked hospitably. ' * Ye' ve a longish walk afore ye.
It's but plain food, but ye're kindly welcome."

"Nothing, thank you," said Geoffrey. "Good-
night"

Jasper answered his farewell greeting, and stood

'« COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE:' 159

looking after him as he went over the brow of the
Weald, a dark figure against the tender blue of the
moonlight-flooded sky.

** He takes it bitter hard I " said the old man.
" Eh, what a pile o' trouble it brings on folk, living
among human creatures 1 ''

l6o " COME, LIVE Wiril ME, AND BE MY LOVE.^'

CHAPTER XIII.

Mischief brewing.

Foul was the place where it grew,
Foul was its blossom and breath|

Chilly and foul as the dew
Wiped from lips parted in death I — The Pkiitre,

It was something of a surprise to Gaffer Kingsley,
returning home after his usual morning walk about
the Warren Farm, to find George sitting in the parlour.
He had quite supposed that when the boy had
marched out of the house, followed by maledictions,
that it was his farewell, at least for a time.

** Thought better of it, you ? " was the Gaffer's jeer-
ing query, as he threw his hat on the disorderly
table and sal down to his midday meal.

George made no answer, and did not even return
the look the old man bent upon him from under his
foxy brows.

'* If you be o' the same mind still," said the Gaffer,
** I give 'ee straight warnin' as you don't stay here.
Them as lives under my roof 'beys my authority, see?

*« COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.'' i6l

I'll have no lazybone vagabonds coortin' no beggarly
sluts from my premises, so make your mind up, and
do it quick. "

George rose and left the room, and the old man,
having bolted a few mouthfuls of food and swallowed
a can of butter-milk, leaned back in his chair and
communed with himself in angry mutteringSi

*' ril have it out wi' him, anyhow," he said to him-
self, and, rising, walked upstairs to George's room.

** Make your ch'ice, Jarge," he said. ** Which is it
to be ? Will 'ee have the money, and the varm, and
a likely lass for a wife, or will 'ee go out o' this and
starve ? Make your ch'ice. "

** My choice is made, father," said George, quietly.
** You won't be troubled with me much longer."

**No," growled the Gaffer, *'thatl won't, ye may
take your oath o' that. Do as you're bid, or out of
this house you go, neck and crop."

**I shall leave this house as soon as I'm ready,"
said his son.

He meant to stay and make a final appeal to

Bridget, and he had but little doubt of the efifect

that appeal would have. The poor child had been

distraught that morning. She would come to see the

situation with clearer eyes, and her affection for him

l62 " COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.**

would triumph over her fear of her sister's anger.
Catherine, too, would repent of her harshness ; it was
not in her nature to go on hating so affectionate and
inoffensive a creature as Bridget.

" Ready ? " echoed the Gaffer. *' Ready to leave ?
D — n your impudence I See, you I Gi'e me your
word aS ye'll marry Catherine Thorpe, or pack your
duds and march ! "

** Then pay me that money you owe me," answered
George. *• It's all one to me whether I stay here or
go to the Ring o' Bells. "

At this the Gaffer foamed at the mouth, and lifted
his staff to strike. The calm, unthreatening eye
with which George watched the gesture made him
lower it

•* Please understand," said George, '*that I mean
to have my due. The money is mine. There are ten
years to be paid. You can take fifty pounds a year
as the price of my livihg here. That leaves five
hundred pounds. Give me the cash and I'll go at

once."

The Gaffer stammered, incoherent with rage, and
ended the interview, which had taken so unpromising
a turn, by leaving the room.

Now, Gaffer Kingsley's character has been handled

"COAfE. LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE." 163
with exceptionally smal! skill if it has not become
abundantly plain to the reader that he was purely and
simply a monomaniac. A natively grasping and
miserly temperament, exaggerated by years of indul-
gence, had ended in a literal inability to care for, or,
indeed, to see anything in the world but money. He
loved money with an intensity for which il is not easy
to find a parallel. No religious devotee could make
of his God, no passionate lover of his mistress, so com-
plete and all absorbing an idol as pounds, shillings,
and pence had become to the old miser. When a
passion has once reached such proportions, its results
may at any moment become tragic, and the person
who crosses or thwarts il has need of the protection
of his guardian Angel,

The mere suspicion that George loved Bridget had
awakened in the Gaffer's mind a hatred such as most
men would find it difficult to conceive. When after
Catherine's accession to fortiuie George still persisted
in his choice, the hatred, great and venomous as it
had been, deepened. And now George's insane infat-
uation was merely causing him to pursue a penniless
girl, not merely impelling him to throw away hun-
dreds of broad acres and ten thousand pounds of
solid money, but was going to cost him, George's

l64 ** COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE^

father, five hundred pounds in cash ! Words are
weak to describe the paroxysms of senile wrath into
which the old man was thrown by that prospect
Had Bridget stood before him he would have killed
her with his hands.

A little after sunset that evening, as Jasper the
shepherd was wending his way to his hut, he beheld
the figure of the Gaffer painfully covering, with much
hard breathing and many stoppages, the last of the
little knolls which lay between the hut and the upper
fields. It was the first time the old man had paid
him the honour of a personal visit for some years ;
so, leaning on his crook, Jasper awaited with some
curiosity the explanation of his appearance.

**Eh ! " said the Gaffer, wiping a perspiring fore-
head with the sleeve of his coat, ** 'tis a moundy hard
climb to get to *ee, Shepherd. Ye allays said ye warn't
fond o* company, and I should think you gets little
enough of it hereaway."

' ' More than I wants sometimes, " said the Shepherd,
with a sour look at his visitor. ** What brings you
here so late } "

'*Gie me time, and Fll come to it," answered the
Gaffer, sitting on a grass-covered mound. He slowly
panted his wind back, but seemed in no hurry to

''COME, LIVE WITH ME, ANDBEMYLOVE:' 165

approach the object of his visit The Shepherd, look-
ing at him, saw that his coarse-grained skin was pallid
under its tan and grime, and the hands which leant
upon his staff were tremulous.

*' I ain't the man I was, Shepherd. I'm getting old,
and the hill it breathes me. "

" Folk don't get younger at your time o* life," said
the Shepherd, drily.

"Nor at thine, come to that," answered the Gaffer.

"Well," said Jasper, ''I left my pot o' the hob,
and once cooked is enough for my victuals. What
can I do for 'ee ? "

The Gaffer looked round with tremulous cau-
tion.

** There's nobody within hearin', Shepherd?"

' * Dogs and sheep, " replied the Shepherd. * * No wt
else."

** Well, then, I want'ee to help me, and I 've come
to ax'ee to do it."

'* I thought ye scorned my ways too much for that, "
said Jasper.

*' YeVe known for a skilful man. Shepherd, far and
near. The wenches come to thee for love-philtres,
and the men knpvv thy skill in yerbs. "

He paused and looked round again. His lips

1 66 * * COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LO FE. *'

twitched oddly, and he kept glancing askant from
Jasper's face to the surrounding country.

** Ye know that brindled mastifif bitch o' mine, the
old beast you cured o' the mange ? "

Jasper nodded. The Gaffer rubbed his bristly hps,
swallowed, and went on,

"She be sickenin' of a bite she got from a dog up-
town. She flies at folk, and I'm a bit afeared. Well,
then, 'tis simple — I want to get rid of her to save
trouble."

**Then shoot her," said Jasper. •* That's easy
enough, surely."

The Gaffer shook his head, looking up at Jasper
with a curious cunning leer.

"Nay, I hate the look o* blood, and I don't want
to torture the poor beast, for, though maybe ye
wouldn't think it, I'm tender-'earted, and hate the
sight o' pain. So — I were thinking, ye're a skilful
man. Shepherd, and know the qualities o' yerbs — I
were thinkin' ye might gi'e me something for her to
drink, something to kill her, without making a mess
with her blood and without pain. Without pain,"
he repeated, darting a glance at Jasper's face and
then letting his eyes wander indeterminately over
the landscape.

" COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE:' 167

" Little need to come to me for that," said Jasper.
**Get some lucifer matches, take the phosphorus,
and melt it down in milk. "

** Ay, ay 1 " said the old man, *' I understand. But
now 111 tell 'ee." He looked round again with even
greater caution than before, and leant nearer speak-
ing almost in a whisper. ' * Tain't my own dog, but a
neighbour's as I want to p'ison, A great black brute,
as comes to our fold at night, and worries the lambs.
Say, you I doan't 'ee know some yerb that kills and
leaves no trace ? If the beast was opened they'd
find the phosphorus stuff inside of him, and then I'd
be pulled up, mayhap. See? "

"Ye want a p'ison that kills easy, and leaves no
trace in the stomach of beast or human creature?"
said Jasper.

The Gaffer started.

**I said nowt o' human creatures," he said angrily.
''I told'ee a dog, Shepherd."

*'Dog or Christian, 'tis one matter for that," an-
swered Jasper. " What's death to one is death to the
other."

.**Ay,"said the old man. *'Ay1 ye say so, and
ye 're a skilful man. Ay, no doubt."

"But if I gave 'ee p'ison like that," said Jasper,

l68 •* COME, LIVE WITH ME. AND BE MY LOVE:*

**it might get me into trouble. Ye might leave it
lying about, and mischief might happen."

** Never fear," said the Gaffer, eagerly. "Never
fear for that. Til be main careful, trust me. Say,
now, can ye find me the stuff I want ? "

** I don't know as I couldn't," said Jasper;
"that is, if I was well enough paid for the risk

o It.

* * Of course, of course. That's reasonable enough. "

He qualified this acquiescence, which on second
thoughts appeared somewhat too ready.

"But how much. Shepherd? Ye knows I be a
poor man."

" I know ye 'remade of brass, "said Jasper. "Folks
who come to me must pay. Gaffer. This job's worth
— let me see ! " He rubbed his forehead with an open
palm, and watched the old man with a keen relish
of his tremendous anxiety to hear the price, nothing
of which was visible in his face, which was intently
calculative. "It's worth two pounds."

"Two pound ! " cried the Gaffer, with a drooping
jaw.

"And cheap at the money," said Jasper, "if the
beast robs 'ee of your lambs."

"Two pound!" repeated his companion. "Eh,

" COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE^ 169

Shepherd, but two pound 's a mort o' money. Two
pounds for a drop o' yerb stufif ! "

" Two pound is my price," replied Jasper inflex-
ibly.

"Til tell 'ee what Fll do!" cried the old man.
" ril give 'ee twenty shillings I Good money ! "

*' Ye may keep it," answered Jasper, preparing to
go. *'Take my advice, and, if the dog's a poacher,
lay in wait for him and shoot him. There's no law
to punish a man for defending his own, and 'tis less
dangerous than meddling with drugs you don't un-
derstand the workings o*."

**I want the stuff," said the Gaffer.

"Then pay for it, "retorted the Shepherd.

"I'll give 'ee thirty shillings," said the old man,
desperately.

"I'll take two pounds," answered Jasper, gaffing
his fish after playing him ; " and if you try to beat
me down again you sha'n't have the stuff at all — not
at no price."

*' Well," said the Gaffer, dolorously, "two pound,
then I "

"Cash down," said Jasper, holding out his hand
for the money.

"D'ye think I be the Bank, ye vulel" asked the

I/O " COME. LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE:'

old man snappishly, ''to carry all that power o'
money about wi' me, and get murdered of a night
for my foolishness ? My word 's my word Give
me the stuflf and you shall have the two pound."

"Touch hands on it, Gaffer, and it's a bar-
gain."

The old man gave him a tremulous and clammy
hand, withdrawing it to wipe his forehead.

**Eh, ye're a hard-fisted old man, Shepherd."

** There's another thing, Gaflfer," said Jasper. ** Ye
must swear to me to tell ne'er a soul where the
stuff was gotten."

** Yes, yes," exclaimed the old man. "Ye're safe
in my hands ? "

** And you be sure that 'tis only for the beast that
kills the lambs ? "

"Surely, surely," said the Gaffer. '*What else
should it be for? Perhaps ye think," he suggested,
with a ghastly attempt at jocularity, **as I want to
poison the lambs 'emselves. "

** Other people's, ye might," replied Jasper.

**Ye've afoul tongue, Shepherd," said the old man.
** Keep a guard on it."

Jasper laughed drily.

**rve been told o' Satan reproving sin," he said,

" COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.'' 171

"but I never heard him do it before. Bide here a
while, and I'll bring the stuff to ye. "

He went off with his long slouching stride to the
hut, and the Gaffer, left alone, sat staring straight
before him, breathing almost as heavily as he had
done ten minutes before, after mounting the hill.

'* I didn't think the old vule 'd ever be so much use
to anybody," he murmured to himself. "What's
death to one is death to the other I And no trace !
Eh ! I must make sure o' that If that's so I'm safe
in dping it, and when the road's clear, Jarge '11 learn
sense, and take Catherine. "

He fell into so deep a brown study that the Shep-
herd was back at his side without his knowing it.

" Here, j^ou \ ** said Jasper, holding out the phial.

The Gaffer started with a choking gasp, and the
hand he extended trembled like a leaf in the breeze.

** What be ye shakin' at ? " asked the Shepherd.

"Nowt, nowt," answered the old man, covering
his confusion by rising and setting his hat on his
head. "The wind 's cold hereaway. Gi'e me the
stuff. Is this all ? " he asked, looking at the phial
wonderingly. " There bean't much here to kill a
beast — main little for two pound, Shepherd."

*' Enough and to spare, " said Jasper. " It's quality

172 •* COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.**

not quantity, as does the trick. Pour it into some
buttermilk, and let the beast drink it; hell trouble 'ee

no more."

"Beityerbstuff?"

''Belladonny, 'tis called, distilled from them poison
flowers that grow i' the churchyard."

** An' it leaves ne'er a sign ? Sure ? "

** Not if all the doctors in the land was called in to
look for it Be careful wi' it Don't leave it lying
about "

'•Ay I ril take care."

He started again. ,

** What's that ? " he asked, in an awestruck whisper.

The moonbeams had grown powerful in the last
half-hour, and by their light the figure of a woman
was seen approaching at a distance.

**'Tis the mistress," said Jasper. *' What can she
want wi' me at this hour?"

"I'll take this way," said the Gaffer. ''I don't
want her to know I've been here, for women they
talk. Mind ! not a word ! " and receiving a nod in
answer to the caution, he slipped noiselessly behind
a row of bushes while Jasper advanced to the brow
of the hill to meet Catherine.

«• COMEy LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE:' 173

CHAPTER XIV.

CATHERINE SEEKS A CHARM.

O what can win an old love back,

And what can wile a new ?
Teach me a spell to change his heart.

Ere mine doth break in two ! — Old Song^

Catherine slowly and laboriously reached the sum-
mit of the incline, and for a moment stood there, her
hand upon her side, breathing heavily and uncon-
scious of the neighbourhood of the Shepherd, who,
leaning on his crook, regarded her long and keenly
from under his penthouse brows before moving
towards her. At the muffled sound of his feet on
the short, crisp turf, she started and turned.

**AhI it is you, Jasper,'* said she, with a quick
catch of her breath.

" Ye be a late visitor. Miss Catherine," said the old
man. ** Will 'ee come to the hut ? ''

** Not yet," she answered. *' I feel stifled within
rooms. The free air does me good."

She breathed deeply with a long, tremulous sound.

1 74 •* COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.**

as if she had just escaped from some asphyxiating
atmosphere.

"Sit awhile," said Jasper, and taking her by the
hand, led her to the mound of earth on which the
Gaffer had been seated but a few minutes before.
** Ye be a bit tired, mistress, 'tis a longish climb."

She sank into a sitting posture, still retaining his
hand, and, supporting her chin upon her disengaged
palm, remained staring before her with an intent and
yet expressionless look.

Jasper took advantage of her abstraction to scan
her appearance, and was shocked at the change she
presented. In all his former knowledge of her she
had worn a settled aspect of placid and resolute
cheerfulness, wavering at moments to something
which might have been called gaiety, and never fall-
ing below a grave and kindly seriousness. In the
last day or two she seemed to have aged by five
years. Her face was pale, and in the dead white
light of the moon looked absolutely bloodless. The
moonlight darkened the heavy coils of her brown
hair to black, and so deepened the pallor of her skin.
As she sat with her head bent, her eyes were fathom-
less pits of darkness, and the long lashes and the
d€ep bistre shadows under the lower lids increased

* * COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.'' \ 75

their apparent size and gave her an appearance
scarcely earthly.

She sat for some moments, lax and abandoned,
like a living figure of despair, till Jaspers heart
yearned over her. A man of few and deep affections,
he loved Catherine with an almost paternal love, and
his bowels were moved to sore compassion.

** Have a bit o' courage, mistress," he said, cher-
ishing her hand and patting her shoulder, as if she
had been an ailing child. Indeed, to his great age
and sad experience she seemed scarcely more. He
would have had little enough sympathy to spend on
most other people afflicted with Catherine's trouble.
He had seen too many hearts broken and healed
again for an unhappy love affair to stir in him a much
deeper compassion than he v/ould have felt for a
child crying over a spoiled toy. But with Catherine
it was different. He knew, or guessed, the depths of
her nature, her ready charity and inexhaustible kind-
liness. She had sat upon his knee, a mere baby,
and he owed her numberle.ss acts of thoughtful gen-
erosity.

**Eh, dear !" he said, passing his hand over her
head and letting it rest for a moment on her brow.
** How hot your head is. And your hands be cold

176 " COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.^*

as ice. You're in a fever, I doubt Ye should
be at home and in your bed, Mi3s Catherine, not
out here in the chills and the dew. Come into the
hut"

*'No, no," she said, resisting the motion of his
hand. ** I am better here."

She sat for a time silent, and then, to Jasper's
pity and almost terror, burst into tears.

** 'Tis the first time in all my life I've seen 'ee cry,"
said the old man, ** and I've seen you in sore trouble
too. Well, tears are good for womenfolk. It's like
cursin' to a man, I suppose. It don't change things,
but it eases the heart What is it, mistress ? Can I
do aught to help 'ee ? "

**I don't know," said Catherine, when she had
conquered the paroxysm sufficiently to speak. ** It's
like death upon me, Jasper. Like death ! Oh, if I
could only die ! "

**Nay, nay ! "said Jasper, with an old-world smile
of great pity and shrewd humour combined. " It's
-not so bad as that, Miss Catherine."

**It's the truth," said Catherine. **My strength
seems gone. I seem always tottering and falling ;
my eyes shut, my head like a load of lead. Down
there it was different I was strong and fierce, and

" COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE^ 177

my hands felt like iron. But now, in the rising of the
moon, something seems falling on me and melting
my strength away. I stifle ! I seem sick and faint !
I haven't the strength even to utter a cry ! I wonder
if death is like what I feeL"

Jasper shook his head with a repetition of the sad,
wise smile, and silence fell again for a space. Pres-
ently, on the stillness of the moonlit prospect, a
long, low, plaintive cry — a sound of infinite pathos —
rose and passed. It was so strangely sorrowful that
it pierced even the numbed sense of the despairing
woman. .

**Ay !" said Jasper, **ye hear that sound, Miss
Catherine.^ Sad and long, like the moan of a human
creature in deadly pain. It s the cry o' the white
owl o' the Weald. It*s the call o* the lonesome she-
bird in the moonlight to her mate that's death struck
and will ne'er come to her again. "

*'I hear,*' said Catherine.

" And it's the same cry that comes from your heart,
Miss Catherine, the cry of one forsaken and heart-
broken."

Catherine looked at him with a wild question in her

eyes.

. ** Ay," said Jasper, ''it's the love-trouble that brings

178 • ' COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.''

'ee here to-night Ye love someone, and the love is
tearing your heart wi' pain."

** Yes," said Catherine, dropping her head again.
** It's that, it's that, Jasper."

'*Ay!" said Jasper again. ** Young Jarge, mis-
tress 1 "

**You know," said Catherine, peering at him half
startled.

** I saw it long ago," said Jasper. ** Maybe, if I'd
seen it sooner I might ha' spared ye this, for ye're a
lass o' courage, and ye would ha' schooled yourself
to bear it. But ye 're deep and close. Miss Catherine,
and ye showed nowt till it was too deep-rooted in
your heart, and I e'en held my tongue and boded
trouble. And the trouble 's come."

**Yes," said Catherine. '*I love him. And he
hates me. That's why I'm here, Jasper. Listen I

■

You are old and wise. You love me, I think I You
would help me if you could } "

** Surely," said the old man, smiling again, with
less humour and more sadness. ''I'd help ye if I
could, mistress."

**You can," said Catherine, with rapid eager-
ness. ** You know the secrets of the earth. Give
me something to win his heart back to me. I

" COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE :' \ 79

want George. He must love me I He shall love

me.

"There's one who desarves thee more, Miss Cathe-
rine, one who has loved thee long and dear, who will
love thee till death, and would give his life to save
thee from a moment's pain."

Catherine's eyes questioned him.

''GeofifreyDoone, poor lad. He loves thee dear."

** Loves me}'' said Catherine, with wide, wandering
eyes distended in the moonlight and a shaking hand
upon her tumultuous heart ** Loves me ? Geoffrey ? "

"Ay, with his whole heart," said the shepherd.

''Poor Geoffrey ! " said Catherine. ** Then that's
why he's so strange and sad. Oh, Jasper ! Does he
suffer as I suffer?"

**Ay, and has suffered for years. And ye never
guessed it ? "

*' Never. Why, he has never given a sign ! "

* * No ? " said Jasper, a little drily. ''Think again,
mistress."

" Poor Geoffrey," repeated Catherine. " But, Jas-
per, I If/oe George. "

The wounded heart, egotistic as every heart is in
its suffering, forgot the sorrow that was not its
own.

l8o ''COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE:'

** I shall always love him. Jasper, I beseech you,
take pity on me ! Help me ! I will pay you well. You
shall have all I possess. I will pay you even with
my heart's blood, my life ! Teach me a charm to
make him care for me ! Teach me how to change
his heart."

** That's more than the wit o' man can do, Miss
Catherine," said the old man, sadly and solemnly.
•* Charms and philtres are for silly folk, not for strong
folk like Catherine Thorpe. Ye must be sore dis-
traught to come on an errand like that. Listen. Ye
ask my help. Ye shall have it; all the help that
mortal man can give ye, ye shall have. Go home,
fall on your knees, and ask God to change thy heart ;
ask Him to teach 'ee to forget Tis all that you can
do, mistress, all that you can do ! "

** Forget!" cried Catherine, wildly. **No, not
that ? It's sweet to love, for all the pain. I'd rather
suflfer as I suffer now, more if it could be, than cease
to love at all. "

Her voice trembled to silence, and for a space she
was quiet

** I tell you," she burst out again, *' I love him ! I
will never love any other ! The thought of him is
killing me, killing me ! He has taken his love to my

"COME. LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE." i8i
sister, a child who doesn't know what love means.
But she shall not have him. He is mine I "

"That's as God wills, Miss Catherine," said the
shepherd. " 'Tis beyond us. Things like that don't
come and go at man or woman's bidding 1 They be
like the wind that bloweth where it listeth, like the
rain that falleth on the salt sea or the cornfield, Tis
hard, bitter hard—have I not known it? It's the
common lot, wellnigh as certain as death to all the
seed o' man. Pray the Lord to change 'ee. Pray to
Him to see the mercy as he holds out to ye. Let
your sister and the man whom God has chosen for
her go their way, and turn your heart lo Geoffrey

, poor
Take

Doone. Ye need a strong man to guard 'ee
weak thing as ye be with all your strength,
the strongest and the best"

"I cannot 1 I cannot!" wailed Catherini
pressed even in her agony with the Scriptui
of the old man's speech. " Jasper I How could I .'
What should I have to give lo any man but George ? "

"Dutyl Lovingcarel Respect! AUthatmakes
the love of man better than the love of the beasts that
perish — all that would bring love in a heart as strong
as thine, once this foolish fancy o' yours was past"

"I cannot 1 I cannot I " cried Catherine again.

l82 " COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE:'

* * God help'ee, mistress, " said the old man. ' * And
He will. Pray to Him. A humble and contrite
heart Eh, lass, your help is there."

** There is no help for va^ there,'* said Catherine.
** God seems against me."

** Wild words, Miss Catherine I Wild and wicked.
Think o' the little one. *'

He felt Catherine tremble under his hand, and,
thinking her touched b^that appeal, went on —

** There was a blessing in your love for her. All
folks honoured 'ee for it, and saw your sacrifice.
Twas a burnt offering, like them we read of in God's
book. Day and night, sleeping and waking, your
thought was for the child, the mother's latest bom.
Yonder stars and moon were not more true in their
courses, more steadfast to their duty than ye. Miss
Catherine. Shall all that be changed and forgotten ?
Nay, may the Lord forbid ! Ye loved the child as
though she had been your own first-born. Will ye
come between her and the man she loves? Go
home, kneel to the Lord, and ask Him to soften your
heart "

**It is too late, Jasper!" she cried. '* My heart
seems dead. My soul seems to have left my body,
and a devil to have entered in its place. If you

" COMEy LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.'' 183

had h€ard the words I spoke to her, Jasper I I hear
them now ! They will ring in my ears till I die ! I
shall hear them beyond death, when I stand in the
presence of my God ! "

** Ay 1 ye cursed her ! "

"I did!"

"But ye repent, mistress, and God is merciful.
With Him a sin repented is a sin forgotten."

"I do not repent," cried Catherine, wildly. *'I
don't repent ! I can't repent ! I know it was wicked,
abominable ! I know God will remember it against
me, that the words will sink my soul if I do not
repent. But I can't. I hate her ! Oh, God ! I hate
my sister I My heart is black with hate of her. It
burns my blood ! My brain is on fire with it ! The
sight of her face, the sound of her foot on the floor,
are hateful to me. I hate her ! I hate her 1 "

She cried the words ragingly, with a sort of fierce
delight in their repetition and in the horrible pang it
caused her.

" Lord help thee, my poor lass ! " cried Jasper.

** My love is given ! " Catherine cried. " My life's
wasted I The hand of death is on me ! It's life and
breath, peace and happiness, that I seek, and they are
fled I They'll never, never come to me; I want A/i;f

1 84 " COMEy LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE^

— only him ! If it meant punishment and eternal
fire, I shall want him still."

**Love like that," said Jasper, "be hardly love
at all. It's the craving of the beasts and birds, not
of reasonable human folk."

" I know it," said the tortured woman. ** But I'm
like a thing without a soul, moaning like the bird
yonder for what can never be mine. But I'll try to
pray. I have tried. I tried last night. An hour I
was on my knees, but not a word would come. I
felt strangled, my heart was gripped as if the claws
of Satan held it."

"Try, mistress, try. 'Twas prayer though you
couldn't speak, 'twas the prayer o' the heart, the
prayer God hears. He has heard it, Miss Catherine."

The voice of the old man trembled with a solemn
gratitude.

*' Ay I " he answered to her look ; "God heard the
prayer, though 'twas not spoken. He has sent ye to
me, to the old servant that loves ye, to learn the way.
Go back ! Go back ! To your knees, Miss Cathe-
rine ! The words will come to-night, and God's
peace will fall on your poor dry heart like dew."

**I will," cried Catherine, with a sudden wild
hope, "I will !"

*• COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.'* 185

And with the words she burst into a storm of
weeping

* * The prayer 's answered, " said the old man.
** They're blessed tears, mistress. They'll wash the
black thoughts from your heart, and leave it clean.
Go home before the evil one has power over thee.
Go home and pray."

'* I will ! " cried Catherine again. ** Good-night I
Good-night ! "

She bent her head before the old man, and felt the
touch of his hand upon her hair.

"Good-night and God bless 'ee. Miss Catherine ! "

She drew her hood about her face and went
towards the farm. As Jasper stood looking after her,
the cry of the deserteii bird swelled sadly on the
rising breeze and died again.

ig6 " COME, LIVE WITHMEy AND BE MY LOVE.'*

CHAPTER XV.

BRIDGET.

Shrill and keen the east wind blew

(Hey, the wind and the weather !)
The white rose sickened where it grew,
For fingers o* frost and poison-dew
Felt for its heart together !

Even to a nature so barren of pity and imagination —
which are often convertible terms — as that of Gaffer
Kingsley, murder is a dreadful business. When first
the idea that to kill Bridget was a possible, nay, even
an admirable, way out of the imbroglio, had risen
in his dull mind, the act had looked easy of commis-
sion, and, done with due care of detail, safe enough.
But from the moment when he had stowed away the
shepherd's little phial in the pocket of his smock-
frock doubts and trepidations began to grow in the
Gaffer's mind.

He tried to pooh, pooh, and ignore them, but they
returned, and by the time that he got home to the
Warren they had assumed spectral proportions.

Nevertheless, the sight of George sitting solitary in

" COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE:' 187

the dim parlour so revived his rage against the inno-
cent cause of all the trouble that for the moment it
again seemed easy to perpetrate his hideous design ;
so the Gaffer went to bed screwed up to the pitch of
desperate action, and lay for an hour or two revolv-
ing schemes of murder with a diabolic relish. Each
plan which occurred to him had its flaw, its point of
weakness, its possible loophole for detection, and to
his quaking nerves the enterprise began to look im-
possible again. He tossed and tossed feverishly on
his bed. At last the mere presence of the phial in
the room became a terror to him, and more than
once he furtively struck a light to contemplate it
Once, his dread of the possible consequences so
gained on him that he opened the window of his
room to dash the little bottle on the stones of the yard
below, but in the very act he checked his hand with
a new resolve to risk all dangers.

The dawn came, and found him still floundering*
in the. quagmire of doubt, and he went afield with the
phial in his pocket. Had the fabled bottle-imp been
confined within its small limits, it could hardly have
exercised a more potent influence on him, and a
dozen times an hour he found himself examining the
innocent-looking liquor it contained.

l88 " COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.*'

He went back to the Warren at his usual breakfast
time, and was for the moment relieved to learn that
his son had eaten his meal earlier, and had left the
house. But the boy's absence acted on him very
much as his presence might have done, and he be-
gan to rage at the young fool's obstinacy.

'' Vule o' vules ! " he cried at last, rising and smit-
ing the table with a heavy hand; **he shall ha' the
money, and ha' the land, and ha Catherine, if I hang
for 't, if I hang for 't ! He shall, d— n him, he shall ! "

He went out into the yard, and finding there a pile
of dried branches and a billhook, fell to chopping
them into lengths, meanwhile revolving for the hun-
dredth time ways and meansof effecting his purpose.
On a farm-labourer passing through the yard he
feigned a sort of ghastly hilarity, and fell to singing,
in a voice like the croak of a raven —

**The young one has the bonny face.
But the old one has the money ! "

and cursed himself a moment later for the inappro-
priate appropriateness of the ditt5^ He was still
slashing at the wood, when a step upon the stones
of the yard made him turn. He stood for a moment
staring at the intruder with his eyes protruding from
his head.

" COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.'' 1 89

It was Bridget !

She looked worn and ill, with heavy shadows un-
der preternaturally bright eyes. His rage so surged
up against her after that one moment of astonishment
that his shaking hand closed on the bill-hook with
the passing intention of throwing it at her. He
checked that characteristic ebullition of feeling, how-
ever, and forced his twisted features to a wry smile
of welcome.

'"'Tisyou, Miss Bridget ! " he said. "And what
brings 'ee hereaway so early of a morning. Come
to pay the old man a visit, eh ? "

His humour seemed to choke him, for he fell into
a fit of coughing which lasted for a minute.

"Yes," said Bridget "I did come to see you,
Mr. Kingsley."

** Deary me, now !" said the Gaffer, in genuine
wonder at this statement ** Think o' that I Not to
see Jarge, Miss Bridget? Only to see me? Sartin
sure ? "

**I shall never see George again," said Bridget,
steadfastly. ** That's what I came to tell you. We
met yesterday — it was by accident — and I told him I
could never see him any more."

The Gaffer peered at her out of his foxy little eyes

190 " COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.''

to detect some sign of duplicity. He found none.
The girl's face was set as with a stern resolve '
after a long struggle, and she spoke simply and
directly.

He did not believe her any the more for that, but
set his brain seeking for a possible double meaning
in her words.

"And so ye came to see mCy and to tell me that}
Well, ye're a good wench. Tell me, do 'ee love him ?
He loves 'ee rarely, the mad vule ! "

Bridget's eyes filled with tears, and she turned her
face away.

* * Well, well, don't cry, my wench. Things may
mend ! maybe ye think I'm angry. So I were, at
first, afore I talked it o'er wi' my son Jarge. The
mad vule ! Eh ! he's young though, and youth's the
time for love-makin' ! I were just the same. Ye 've
bewitched him rarely."

"I am sorry," said Bridget. *'I didn't think — I
didn't know. But I've told him that it's all over, and
now he's going away."

*' Poor little lass," said the Gaffer, with an ugly and
clumsy pretence of sympathy which would have been
at once remarked by anyone less troubled than
Bridget **But what's done can ne'er be undone.

" COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE:'' i^^

The vule say^ that so long asjj/^w be living, he'll
ne'er go courting again. "

** I know," said Bridget, with a sob ; '* I know he
loves me."

^* Ay, blight him I" cried the Gaffer ; then correct-
ing himself, ** There, there, don't 'ee mind me; it's
only my way. A crabbed old varmint, I am. But
it made me mad to see him throw such a chance
away, though I've forgi'en him now."

Bridget shivered and started at the word, and
the Gaffer's fiery little eyes pierced her like gim-
lets.

**Ay," he continued, ''I'm none that hard as some
folk 'd make me out. But, my wench, what says your
sister?"

"She says nothing," said Bridget, with a burst of
tears : * * she neither speaks to me nor looks at me.
She will never forgive me."

"That's bad," said the old man, reflectively, hold-
ing his head on one side like a cogitating raven.
"Trouble 'tween sisters is powerful bad. But ye
know, Bridget, Catherine 's in the right of it all
through. She's the eldest, is Catherine, land and
money too are hers, and the eldest should gt) first,
though 'tis main hard on the younger."

192 " COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE^

**I know," said Bridget, brokenly. **IVe been
thinking of all that and of all her kindness, and I
don't want to stand in the way of her happiness. I
would rather die. Tell George that — tell him — tell
him that — although I love him — that Oh ! Cath-
erine I my sister I "

She tottered, clutched at the air, and seemed about
to fall.

*'Sit'ee down," said the Gaffer. *'Sit'ee down.
Ye're ill, my wench."

The Gaffer helped her to a rude bench under the
parlour window.

"Lean your head against the wall. Theer I theer!
Will 'ee take a sup o' buttermilk ? Yes ? No ? Well,
well I "

He patted her shoulder as she sobbed.

"And so ye want me to tell Jarge as ye'll never
marry him ? "

"Yes," sobbed Bridget "Say I told you so. Tell
him he must not come to the farm any more."

"Eh 1 but he's that mad for 'ee," said the Gaffer,
shaking his head. "What use be it in denying the
vule when he swears to marry none else while you
be cdwe ? "

His manner and speech were sympathetic and

WALL. — I'aije lyj.

** COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE:' 193

soothing, but he could have torn the girl with his
hands.

**The more ye weep and cry, the more mad he
grows for 'ee. Eh! if sister was a hard womait,
she'd wish 'ee. dead and buried."

Bridget's sobs redoubled.

**She does, Mr. Kingsley, she does I Oh, what shall
I do ? " .

The QafFi^r's eyes lightened with an angry gleam
of resolve.

* * Bide here awhile, and Til fetch 'ee a cup of butter-
milk. 'Twill do 'ee good, my wench."

He ambled quickly into the cottage, and with his
shaking fingers clutching at the murderous little phial
in his pocket, found the can of buttermilk on the
table, poured a portion into a glass tumbler, and with
treinulous glances about the room, added to it the
Shepherd's decoction.

Returning to Bridget, he found her leaning against
the wall, the tears running dpwn her white cheeks
from under her closed lids.

** Here," he said, tendering the tumbler ; ** sup, my
dear I"

"I can't," said Bridget, feebly, waving aside the

glass. *' I can't ; 'twould choke me."

194 " COME, LtVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.**

"Nay, nay ; 'twill do 'ee good, I tell 'ee I To show
there be no malice i' your heart against me \ Maybe
things '11 come right. 7 11 talk wi' Catherine."

•'You'll ask her to forgive me?" cried Bridget.
'*YouVeold. You're George's father. She'll listen
to you."

**Ay, ay, lass; I'll talk wi' her. Keep up your
heart, my wench. Things will come right 'TIS a
long lane that has no turning, they say. Here,
sup ! "

Bridget drank, while the old man kept his eyes
fixed on her with a glassy stare. He half expected
to see her fall dead beneath his eyes, and at the
thought his blood froze in his veins. But she merely
sighed as she took the glass from her lips.

** 'Twill take away thy faintness," he said, when
he could trust his voice : "Come, another sup I "

She obeyed him, for the cool draught had indeed
done her good for the moment

** Ah I that's better. The colour's come back to
your cheek. Go your ways home, my wench. Don't
linger. "

He gave her his hand to help her to rise, and fussily
led her from the yard.

"Say naught about coming here, or maybe Jarge

" COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE:' 195

might think I was turning your mind again' him.
But Tm your friend, lass, Tm your friend I "

The girl's sore heart was touched by his unex-
pected kindness.

*' Good-bye, Mr. Kingsley. Good-bye, and thank
you. They say you're a hard man, but you've been
good to me in my trouble, and I thank you. You'll
— you'll speak to Catherine ? "

'* Ay, ay, I'll speak to her," he said, forcing the
girl away : ** Happen she'll listen to me. I'll do what
I can. Theer, don't stand starin' at me like a vule,
but go ! Go ! I'll do my best to put things straight.''

She shook her head with a sad, heartbreaking little
smile, and went. The Gaffer watched her figure as
it passed slowly out of sight.

** I've done it I " he said to himself. *' I've done
it I 'Twas the only way. Shepherd said 'twas the
right stufi^ and left no trace."

He took up the glass from the seat on which Brid-
get had left it. "I wonder if she's ta'en enough to
do the job? Best throw the rest away. 'Tis danger-
ous to leave it."

He threw the rest of the buttermilk into the gutter
which traversed the yard. As he did so, a voice
saluted him.

196 •• COME, LIVE WITHMEy AND BE MY LOVE^

''Mornin', Gaffer."

He started violently, and looking up, saw the
Shepherd.

'*Eh, you ? Mornin'."

' * What ha* ye gotten there, Gaffer ? "

"Drop o' buttermilk. I was thirsty like."

"Is that why you throwed it on the ground? It's
not like Gaffer Kingsley to be so wasteful 1 '*

"It were sour," said the Gaffer, " and I'd drunk
enough. What d'ye want, ^01/? "

"I've come for that two pound ye promised

me.

"Come again to-morrow, then," said the Gaffer,
all other subjects chased from his mind by the
thought of paying the money.

"Nay," said Jasper; "I want the brass now.
Who was she that just left ee? "

"She I no one !"

He spoke the words hurriedly, and, to cover his
confusion, he took up the bill-hook and continued his
wood-chopping.

"That's a lie. Gaffer," said Jasper, coolly. "'Twas
Bridget Thorpe. "

"Oh, ay," said the Gaffer, chopping away. "She
passed by gate, and gave me a nod. We don't speak.

''COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE:' 197

she and me, now I ha' bidden her keep clear o'
my son Jarge."

Jasper looked at him fixedly, and the Gaffer con-
tinued, with the best air of commonplace he could
assume^

" Been down to the farm, you ? "

"No," said Jasper; "I'm going down now.
What about that dog, Gaffer ? Ha' ye given him
the stuff yet ? "

"No, I'll gie it him to-night, when he comes here-
away. Leaves ne'er a trace, ye say ? "

This last with his back turned, and over his shoul-
der.

"Nay," said Jasper. "Leastways, not when 'tis
paid for," he added drily.

The Gaffer sighed, turned, and unwillingly drew
out the money.

"Thank 'ee," said Jasper. "Where's thy son,
Gaffer ? "

" Fooling about somewhere," replied the old man,
"Say, you I What was Miss Catherine doin' last
night, up to the folds."

" Reckon that's her business, not yours."

" Happen," said the Gaffer, " she saw me up yon-
der ? "

198 * COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVEr

"Nay," replied the Shepherd, to the old man's
great reliefl **Moniin', Gaffer. Take care o' that
stufi^ don't leave it lyin* about ! "

** I'll be careful," the Gaffer answered.

**Twas on the tip o' my tongue," he murmured to
himself, "to ask him how long it takes to work?
Maybe she's sickening naiVy on the road home, and
happen she 11 sp>eak o' coming here. I was a vule to
do it — a born vule ! Why did she come here, temptin'
me wi* her white face, and reminding me o' what
Jarge said — as he'd never ha' Catherine while she
was livin ? If she dies an' they find out /'ve done it,
happen I'll hang ! "

In an agony of terror, as if he felt the rope already
round his neck, the Gaffer crawled into the house,
and, shutting himself up in his own bedroom, col-
lapsed upon the bed.

His feeble yet cunning little mind, only capable
of seizing one idea at a time, now occupied itself
entirely with thoughts of the hangman. No thrill of
pity, no feeling of remorse mingled with the old
man's dread — which was almost purely physical.

Suddenly he remembered the phial, which he still
carried in his pocket ; and first peering from the
window to see that the coast was clear, he crept

" COMEy LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE,'' 19^

downstairs and made his way to a large duck-
pond in the field adjoining his dwelling. Whistling
feebling as he went, and assuming an air of careless
indifference, he reached the pond, gazed round and
round, and then, quickly and stealthily, cast the
phial into the water.

Through the green slime it sank, down, down,
sending up bubbles like a living thing i

aoo " COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MyZOFE.**

CHAPTER XVI.

A FRIEND I N N E E Dt.

There came a Shepherd with his crook

Striding so boldly by,
And he saw the lambkin fleecy white

Wounded and like to die ;
And he lifted it up on his broad, broad back

And bore it home to the fold,
Sing, ho ! the flocks of the Silver Fleece

And the Shepherd with Crook of Gold.

— Son^s of the Weald,

Bridget left the Warren after her interview with the
Gaffer, and crept slowly on her homeward road to
the farm.

The mellow sunshine lay about the lanes and the
surrounding fields, but the familiar beauty of the scene
left her untouched. Heart and brain seemed alike
empty. She had been sustained on her journey to
the Gaffer's house by the heroic resolution to cut the
net of trouble which surrounded her and all she
loved.

The task accomplished, the words spoken, she
was conscious at first of nothing but a dull aching

■■ COME, LIVE iVITHME, AND BE MY LOVE." 201
vacuum, passiii^ gradually into a dull content. She
shivered in the warm air, and drew her cloak more
closely around her as if it had been winter time, but
the shivering increased in violence and frequency,
and her limbs seemed agitated as if by a palsy.
"I am going to die, perhaps," she said to herself.

In her strained, half-insane condition of mind, the
awful thought seemed welcome.

"George will be free then to obey his father, and
Catherine will forgive me when I am gone."

But a young and heaUhy creature was not likely
to look long in that fashion on the heart-freezing
terror of death.

" I can't 1 I can't leave him ! God will not be so
cruel ! Help me I help me, somebody I "

As if in answer to her prayer, the trembling of her
limbs grew fainter and then ceased. She walked on,
falling back into her former vacuous condition, until
she was within sight of the chimney-pots of the
farm, when the trembling seized her again more
violently than before.

Her head swam, her eyes were dim, there was a
sound in her ears as of rushing water.

She fought hard against the sensations which were
overwhelming her, and with tottering feet had cov-

202 " COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.*'

ered another fifty yards when the solid ground
seemed to slide from beneath her. She fell with no
shock, and woke to partial recognition to find herself
lying on the soft turf by the roadside.

She tried to rise, but her limbs were slack and
nerveless ; to cry for help, but her voice sounded dim
and faint in her own ears.

Her arms bent beneath the weight of her body,
and she lay supine, conscious of nothing but a strong
nausea and a dull internal discomfort, growing rap-
idly into positive pain. Then she slipped into com-
plete unconsciousness.

She had lain so for half an hour before the hot still-
ness of the lane was stirred by any other sounds than
the light twitter of grass and leaf and an occasional
trill of song from the birds sheltering from the noon-
tide heat. Then ^ slow footstep came round the
bend of the lane, and Jasper the shepherd hove in
sight, plodding on with his long, slow stride towards
the farm.

His eyes fell on the prostrate form. He did not
at first recognise it, for Bridget lay face downwards
in the long grass of the wayside.

**What ha' we here? ''said Jasper, peering down
on the prostrate form. **It's o'er early i' the day to

«« COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE:' 203

be took like that, and a young 'un, too. Eh, Lord
alive, 'tis Miss Bridget ! Poor little lass I What
ails'ee? Come, come, it's no good for 'ee to lie
here i' the public road, wi' the sun hot on thy head,
too."

He tried first to turn the girl over by lifting her
arm, but the limp, dead weight of the body startled
him. He knelt beside her, and turned her face to
the light. It was deadly white. The eyes opened
and looked vacantly at him, with no recognition.
The pupils were widely dilated.

'* Lord Almighty ! " said the old man, in a low,
deep tone of doubt and horror.

After staring at the face for a moment, he clasped
his still sturdy arms about the girl's figure, and raised
her to his shoulder. She was a heavy weight, but'
he carried her swiftly and lightly at double his usual
speed to the farm.

Amanda was in the yard, casting handfuls of barley
to a crowd of clucking poultry. She screamed at the
sudden apparition of Jasper carrying her yoiing mis-
tress, and began to pour out a flood of incoherent
questions and exclamations.

"Hold thy clack!" said Jasper, with more than
his usual contempt for feminine incapacity of accept-

204 " COMEy LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE:'

ing an unexpected situation. **Hold thy clack,
wench, and go tell Miss Catherine that her sister is
took ill."

Amanda fled upon her errand, and almost fell into
the arms of Catherine, who entered the yard at that
moment from one of the outhouses.

Jasper marched with his burden into the kitchen,
and tenderly depositing Bridget in a chair, stood
above her, attentively examining her face, the pupils
of her eyes, and feeling her hands and pulse. A
languid step sounded on the floor ; he raised his head.
It was Catherine.

•'What is this?" she asked, looking down with an
expressionless face at the lax figure in the chair.

**I found her at the roadside," whispered Jasper,
**lyin'i' the grass like a dead thing. She's sick,
she's sore sick, Miss Catherine."

"She has fainted," said Catherine, calmly. ** Stop
blubbering," she continued, with a cold contempt, to
Amanda, "and bring a Httle water.''

Amanda clattered out of the kitchen with a basin.

*"Tis no common faint, "said Jasper, thoughtfully.

"What do you mean ?" asked Catherine, still in
the same dull fashion. " Is she ill ? "

Jasper nodded, with his eyes on her face. -7^

•* COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE^' 205

** There s no creature in the parish that's so ill," he
replied. ** Get her to bed, Miss Catherine."

"Do you mean," asked Catherine, **that she is
really ill — that her life is in danger? "

"Not if I can help it," returned the old man.
"But rU tell'ee one thing: ye may thank God as
'twas I that found her I Get her to bed. Tis no
time to talk. Lend thy missis a hand, Amandy."

He stalked from the kitchen, and catching sight of
a labourer loading a cart at a little distance, hailed
him :

"Ye know my hut?" he said quickly to the man.
"My hut upon the Weald? Go there, and on the
end o' the shelf over the door ye'll find a bottle, a long
green bottle wi* a white label half scraped off. Bring
it to me here. And hark 'ee, run as if your life
depended on it! Miss Bridget 's sick, and like to
die."

The man stared at him for a second in silence, and
then started off at a round pace towards the Weald.

" Run, lad, run for your life I " Jasper shouted after
him.

He watched the man's figure out of sight, and then
returned to the kitchen, and sat staring at the floor
till aroused. by Catherine s entrance.

2o6 •' COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE^

"Jasper," she said agitatedly, "you are right
Bridget is very ill. She is quite insensible."

Her stony, imperturbable look had gone ; she was
more like the Catherine of former days.

** Ay," hesaid, "she's ailing badly, but, with Gods
help, we'll put her right. Has she said aught ? "

"She called my name, though she didn't seem to
know me when I spoke to her, and she spoke of — of
George, and of the Gaffer."

"The Gaffer? "said Jasper, quickly. "Ay, she
spoke o' the Gaffer, ye say ? Let me go in and see
her. Miss Catherine. I've sent Jabez to the hut for a
bottle o' stuff. Let me know when he comes wi' it."

Catherine answered by a sign, and, as the old man
left the room, sank down in the seat which he had
vacated.

"She's ill," she said to herself, monotonously.
* * She's very ill. It's so sudden. Can she be dying ? "

The words she had spoken to Bridget came back
to her memory, and struck her brain like a blow.
She had wished her sister dead ! Was God going to
answer her infamous prayer ?

She was aroused from a dazed condition of horror
by the entrance of Amanda.

"Missis! Missis!" screamed the terrified hand-

*« COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE:' 207

maid, "Miss Bridget 's a-dying", sure and sartain !
She*s crying out and she's twistin' all over the bed ! "

**Run for the doctor!" cried Catherine, springing
up. "Doctor Dutton I If he isn't at home, follow
him till you find him. Tell him it's life or death ! "

She raced upstairs, with Bridget's cries ringing
in her ears, and stood at the threshold of her room
frozen to stone by the sight she beheld. Her sister,
writhing on her bed in agfonies of violent sickness,
was prevented from rising only by the pressure of
Jasper's right hand upon her shoulders. His left hand
held a water-basin.

" Don't 'ee be feared, Miss Catherine," said the old
man. " She'll do herself no damage. I've gi'en her
mustard and hot water to drink, and, please God, she's
been vomiting. The worst's over, if Jabez will only
make haste wi' the stuff I've sent him for. "

Even as he spoke the paroxysm passed, and Brid-
get fell back into unconsciousness.

"She's dying \" cried Catherine, horrified at the
sudden quiet as she had been at the noise and
the convulsions.

"Nay, nay," said Jasper, wiping his forehead.
"Trust me. I never tell lies; ye know that. Miss
Catherine. She 's a good chance yet. The fit '11

2o8 ''COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.*'

come on her again, and more than once maybe, but
'twill pass. I know the symptoms. I've seen 'em
afore to-day, in dumb creatures." As he spoke he
left the bedside, and opening the window, cast out
the contents of the basin into the open yard.

"What is it?" panted Catherine, hoarsely, with
distended eyes of horror glaring alternately at Jasper's
face and at the figure on the bed.

** There '11 be time enough to talk of that later on,"
answefted Jasper, averting his eyes. *' We must get
to work. The lass's life is still in danger."

Catherine fell into a chair, staring at him like one
distraught

*' Bear up. Miss Catherine I " said Jasper. " Keep
a brave heart She '11 come through it, please God I
Stay you with her. I've done all 1 can for the time,
till Jabez brings the stuff. "

He patted her reassuringly on the shoulder, and
went downstairs and out into the yard. There he
met Dutton returning with Amanda. The man of
science snorted disdainfully at the sight of his rival
practitioner.

**Has he been tampering with the case?" he asked
Amanda, loftily.

She stopped in her whimpering to look at him

" COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.'' 209

wonderingly, and shook her head before resuming.

**So nnuch the better," said Button, misreading the
gesture. ** The infernal old quack ought to be laid
by the heels. If he's allowed in the sick-room Til
throw up the case."

Jasper heard the words, as Button had meant he
should, but took no heed of them, leaning on the
gate of the yard and looking eagerly towards the
Weald in anxious expectation of the return of his
messenger. Then, with a grim smile, he walked
to the spot where the contents of the basin had
fallen and were soaking into the ground. Bending
down, he scraped the place with his foot, and
effaced all traces of the slimv discoloration.

*' I was right," he muttered to himself, ** Tis an
ugly job I "

Catherine, sitting in a stony horror beside the bed,

listening to Bridget's breathing with a horrible fear

that each heave of her bosom might be her last, or

that the convulsions which had terrified her would

again begin, heard the doctor mounting the stair

and passing along the corridor, but did not recognise

his step. She answered his tap at the door, and at

his appearance in the room sprang from her seat and

ran to him.

2IO ''COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.^^

** Thank God you've come I" she cried.

Women, even the least conventional, are creatures
of use and wont, and love conventionalities in solid
human form. She trusted Jasper, and believed pro-
foundly in his skill, and she had a sort of good-
humoured tolerant contempt for Dutton as a general
practitioner ; but at the sight of him his uncouth
rival's assurances were forgotten, and all her faith
for the moment, was given to the diploma'd Science
represented by the village surgeon.

** Thank God youVe come! Quick. Tell me
what we must do \ Jasper says my sister is
dying ! "

Dutton, bending over the patient, looked round,
with an angry scowl.

** So that old quacksalver has been meddling," he
said. '* What brings him here, away from the beasts
that are his fit companions ? "

*' He found her lying in the road, and brought her
home," replied Catherine. '* He says she's in great
danger."

*'I fear he's right for once," said Dutton, with
Bridget's pulse between his fingers.

'*She has had convulsions — terrible convulsions,"
said Catherine.

" COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE:' 21 1

** Just SO," said Dutton, majestically. '*'Tis a
brain shock, following an exacerbation of the nervous
centres. Pulse weak, breathing irregular ? I'll go
home and bring you some medicine. Meanwhile,
keep her cool and dry, and prevent that old ass from
meddling with her. If I hear of any interference
with the case 111 throw it up. How a woman of
your position and education. Miss Catherine, can lis-
ten to the rubbish of an old ignoramus like that — an
ignoramus who can't even speak our own language
— I cannot understand."

"Oh, go!" cried Catherine. **Go and send
what is necessary. The convulsions might return
at any moment. Tell me, is she really ill ? "

"She is dangerously ill," said Dutton. "'Twill be
a long affair, maybe weeks. If the case fell into the
hands of an irregular practitioner, I shudder to think
what the consequences might be."

Catherine fell back into her seat, moaning and
wringing her hands, a pitiful spectacle to anyone
who knew her well, and with what quiet courage it
was her wont to receive any trouble, however severe.

''WeU, well," said Dutton, still airing his small
importance: "I've diagnosed the case fairly well, I
think. Well try a sedative. I'll bring it myself,

212 ** COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.'*

presently. We have to guard against the cerebral
excitement which will probably accompany the re-
turn of consciousness."

He marched away, to find Jasper still leaning on
the yard gate. The old man turned at the sound of
his footstep, and held the gate open with a politeness
which, to an acuter mind than Button's, might have
been a little suspicious.

The doctor walked through with a haughty *' Thank
you, my man." Twenty yards from the gate he was
passed by a rustic running fast, with a big green
bottle in his hand. He took no heed of him, except
to answer his panting salute by a patronising nod.

'^ COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVg:' 213

CHAPTER XVIL

GEORGE KINGSLEY.

And who has raised a wicked hs^nd

To bear my love from me ?
Tho* he were ten times kith and kin,

An ill death he should detX— Scottish Ballad,

Gaffer KiNGSLEY, meanwhile, with a pretence of light-
hearted industry which was the very antipodes of his
real feeling, went on chopping at his wood, and
singing in a raucous wheeze such scraps of rustic
song as came into his mind. The old blackguard,
after seventy odd years of ignorance of its existence,
had found his nervous system, and every chance
sound around about filled his scraggy frame with
tremors.

Footsteps passed the gate. He shivered as he
listened to their approach, and, with a sense of relief
which was in itself an agony, heard them die away
in the distance.

One step paused at a little distance from him.
Bracing himself to receive the touch of a hand upon

2 14 ** COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.*'

his shoulder, and the sound of an accusing voice in
his ear, he chopped blindly at the piece of wood he
held upon the block. When at last, after what
seemed to him an incalculable length of time, a
voice spoke — it was a full half-minute before he com-
prehended what it really was — a whining appeal for
charity from a wayside beggar. He turned and
cursed the intruder with a dreadful vehemence,
shaking his bill-hook at him with paralytic rage, and
spitting profanity after him by the mouthful after he
had retreated.

He was thus occupied when George entered the
yard. The young man stood staring at him in amaze-
ment. The Gaffer quieted himself with a great effort,
and turned to his task again.

'*What has Bridget Thorpe been doing here?"
asked George suddenly.

The question so shook his father's already dis-
ordered nerves that he missed his stroke at the branch
he was chopping, and cut deeply into the block.

* * Bridget ? " he answered, in a shaking voice, tug-
ging out the bill-hook with a violent effort * * Bridget
Thorpe ? Hereaways ? What should she do here !

rd loike to see her comin' hereaways. I'd "

He gave a vicious chop to eke out his meaning.

" COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE^ 215

** But she has been here," said George, '* I was at
the corner of the ten-acre an hour ago, and she
passed me on the road beneath."

'*Did she say she'd been here?" asked the
Gaffer.

"No," said George, *'I didn't speak to her, nor
she to me — she didn't see me. But I know she has
been here, because the road leads nowhere else."

"I've seen nowt o' the wench," said the Gaffer,
" and don't want to. Lookee here, ^o« ! You and
me has had many a battle, and, old as I be, I ha'
allays come off best When I say a thing, I mean a
thing, see ? and nowt stands i' my way, Hini that
crosses me I serve like this clump o'wood."

He struck the block a resounding blow.

" He goes to the fire ! "

'* What have you been saying to Bridget? asked
George again, doggedly avoiding his father's chal-
lenge to battle.

"I've said nowt to her. How should I, when I
haven't seen her ? "

' * If you've been tormenting her," cried George,
" if you've told her that I shall ever change, or that
I have ceased to care for her, or that I shall ever
care for her sister, you've done a base thing, father,

2i6 *' COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVEr

which ril never forgive ! The poor child looked
like death."

The Gaffer shook at the word.

** I said nowt to her, I tell 'ee. I've said all Fve
got to say. Be wise in time, you I Do as I bid 'ee,
and all the land '11 be yourn some day, when I die !
Cross me, and I'll crush your turnip-faced wench
under my heel — ay, and you too!"

**Ifyou harmed a hair of her head "said George,

through his clenched teeth.

** Well ! " said the Gaffer, jeeringly.

'*God forgive me," said George, **but I think I
should kill you ! "

'*What?" cried the old man, striding towards
him.

** Bully those who fear you," said George.
*' Threaten those you can hurt. You've no power

over me or mine."

** We'll see about that," said the Gaffer, going back
to his wood-chopping with a nod of evil meaning.
"When time comes, blame yourself, not me. I'll
tame 'ee, as I tamed your mother before ye."

A beat of horse's hoofs, which had been nearing
the Warren unmarked by either father or son, rang
with a startling suddenness on the stones of the road

" COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE:' 217

a score of yards away, and Geoffrey Doone heaved
in sight, mounted on his roadster. He pulled up at
the gate, and dismounted.

The Gaffer's face went ashen white, but George,
wondering what business had brought Geoffrey there,
did not look at him.

** George, my lad," said Geoffrey, laying his hand
kindly on the young man's shoulder, "I've bad news
for you. Be a man, and bear it. You're wanted
down at the farm."

*' It's Bridget ? " cried the lover.

*'Ay/' said Geoffrey, **it's Bridget. She's taken
ill."

"111? How?"

"She was found by Jasper lying by the roadside,
insensible. He carried her home, and soon after en-
tering the house she was seized with convulsions.
Dutton was called in. He had her put to bed at once;
He says it's a shock to the brain. But Jasper "

He paused, then added —

"Well, you may as well hear it from me as from
another. Jasper took me aside and told me that 'twas
poison."

George staggered.

" Poison ! " he gasped. ' ' Impossible ! "

2 1 8 " COMEy LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE:'

** Rubbish ! " murmured the Gaffer. "Jasper 's a
vule. *'

* * So Dulton said, but the old man stuck to it 'twas
the truth. I wanted to ask you, Gaffer, if she took
anything" when she was here? "

'* Here ? " repeated the Gaffer. "She's never been
hereaway at all. "

"Not been here!" cried Geoffrey. "Why, Jasper
says he saw her leaving the Warren on her way
home."

The old man felt his son's eyes upon his face.

" Ay, I remember now," he said : "she did pass
this way and gi'e me a nod. I thought nowt
of it. Say, you ! Be she sensible ? Has she said
nowt?"

"Nothing that I know of. She has called for
George, though I doubt if she'll know him when she
sees him."

The Gaffer's ugly mask did not change a muscle,
but he drew a tremulous breath of relief

"She's like a woman paralysed and in deadly pain,
then the convulsions come and seem tearing her io
pieces. She's strange coloured too, as if some ugly
stuff was in her blood."

His glance turned to George, who was leaning

" COME, LIVE WITHMEy AND BE MY LOVE.'' 2 19

against the wall with his face-gone grey, his eyes
glazed, his whole frame shaking.

*'Take heart, lad I Jasper says he'll save her.
Don't linger. The poor child has called out your
name more than once, and she may want to see
you."

George nodded, and motioned Geoffrey to the gate
without looking at him.

** I'll come; I'll come," he said. "Go and say
I'm coming."

Geoffrey mounted and rode away.

The Gaffer took up his bill-hook with a shaking
hand, not daring to look towards his son. George,
pale as a corpse, walked to him and laid his hand
upon his arm.

'* Father," he said, in a harsh voice unlike his
own.

"Well," answered the old man, shrinking at the
touch.

"Tell me what this means. Why did you lie to
Geoffrey? Why did you deny at first that Bridget
had been here ? "

"I denied now t," cried the Gaffer. "Take your
hand off ! "

He fiercely shook himself free.

220 " COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE r

**You heard what he said," George continued
'*That Bridget had taken poison I "

"Ay! what's that to me?"

' * It's life and death to me, *' said George. * ' I know
you hate her. I know that you would gladly see her
dead. Answer : what took place when she was here?
You have admitted that you spoke together. What
else ? Did she eat or drink anything in this
place ? "

** Nay, neither bite nor sup," replied the old man,
shivering like a leaf.

*' Look me in the fac&and say that ! " said George.

The Gaffer raised his eyes, but they wandered
nervously all over his son's face. His lips moved,
but only a moan of inarticulate sound was audible.

''George," he cried at last, **ril not deceive 'ee.
She was faint, and I give the poor wench a drink o'
butter-milk from the churn. How could that harm
her ? " •

'*It could not," said George, "unless "

''Unless!" echoed the Gaffer. "What d'ye
mean ? "

" I mean," cried George, "that if Bridget has taken
poison, 'twasjj/ow that gave it to her ! "

"What!" screamed the old wretch, with a livid

" COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LO VE: ' 221

face of deadly fear, but doing his best to bluster down

the accusation. ** D'ye dare "

**Tell me the truth," said George. '* There may
be time yet."

**rve told'ee all I got to tell," murmured the

Gaffer.

** You swear," said George, "that you did nothing

to harm her ? "

*'I swear it!" cried the old man. "I swear

it!"

** Very well," said George, and started towards the
gate.

'*Jarge, Jarge!" cried the Gaffer: **stop — where
be'ee going?"

''I am going to the farm. I shall tell them there
that Bridget drank a glass of milk here, and that that
may have caused her illness."

" Ye can't say that, Jarge ! Ye mustn't say that 1 "

''Why not.?"

" Because — ye 11 set folk talking. They're a foul-
mouthed lot hereaways, and they know I bear the
wench no good will."

" And what then ? "

''They might say things," groaned the Gaffer;
"Jarge, bide here. Don't go down yonder. Would

222 " COME, LIVE WITH ME, AXD BE MY LOVE^

ye put the rope round your father's neck ? Stay here^
and ni tell 'ee the truth."

"The truth," cried George.

' ' Ay, the God's truth. '*

He crept nearer to his son shivering as with an
ague.

** I done it for your sake, Jarge ! "

' ' For my sake ! You did — what ? What have you
done .? "

'* Hush, hush — folk '11 hear ye. I 've cleared the
way for 'ee to Catherine. Ye said ye 'd ne'er ha' her
while Bridget was alive. Well, ye may count her
dead, for neither you nor any man can save her. I 've
gi'en her poison stuff to drink."

" You \ my father ? Then Jasper was right ! "

**Ay, d — n him !" cried the old man. "Twas
from him I got the stuff, and if he guesses I used it
'twill cost me my life, or else a power o' money,
Jarge ! Stop ! Don't go I "

He clung to the young man with trembling hands.

" Let me pass ! " cried George, struggling to free
himself of the tenacious grip.

'* Not to speak agin me ! " wailed the Gaffer.
'* Not to say your father 's a murderer I Not to put
the rope round my neck ! I tell *ee, if ye go down

r C(

COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE:' 22$

yonder and tell em what ye know, I'll hang for it,
and 'twill be jyour doing. Jarge, Jarge ! I done it
all for jyou I 'Twas for you I wanted Catherine —
wanted the money — wanted the land. And you shall
ha' 'em, ha* 'em all, and mine too, all of it, Jarge,
every acre and every penny. I swear it I'll go to
the lawyer this day and make it over to 'ee."

"My God, my God!" cried George. "Let me
go I I'll speak at any cost. TU save her."

"No, no, Jarge ; ye can't have the heart to do it!"

"Listen," cried George. "There is one way.
Go to the farm yourself — tell them there has been
an accident — that there was poison here — that
Bridget drank it by mistake — that — go — go ! You
will know what to say."

"I'll go-I'll go ! " said the Gaffer.

He made a few tottering steps towards the gate.

"And I'll come with you," said George, following
and catching him up.

"What ! ye don't trust me?" snarled the old man.

"Trust you!" repeated George, bitterly; "no!'*

" Then I'll bide here," said the Gaffer, "and if 'tis a
hanging job I'll face it out. Say what ye will, ye
can prove nowt. The stuff leaves no trace. It's
oath agin oath, and mine 's as good as yourn. Bide

224 " COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.''

where ye be ! " he cried fiercely, inlercepting George s
passage.

For the moment he was desperate. His one idea
was to give the poison time to work, and then to face
the consequences. After all, where was the proof?
But his resolution failed.

** Jarge, Jarge ! ye can't give me up, lad. I'm your
father, and 1 did it for your sake. Take pity ! "

** What pity had you on her} " asked George.

** Think again, lad, think again ! If ye speak, if
ye give me up, all the world will know it, and the
shame will fall owyou as well."

"Shame or no shame,*' said George, "she shall
live."

"She shannot, she shannot ! " screamed the old
man, "not if I strangle her with my own hands.
Vule, vule ! What can ye prove ? This stuff leaves
no trace, I tell 'ee. All the doctors in the land can't
find it. Stand ! Ye sha'n't go."

He seized the bill-hook, and swung it over his head,
transformed with rage and fear, and looking unnat-
urally tall.

" I'll kill 'ee first, and swing for both, if I must !"

George pressed on with a white face.

"Then kill me, as you've killed her,''

" COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE:' 225

The bill-hook fell clanking to the ground, and the
Gaffer threw himself to his knees, clasping George's
legs.

"Jarge! My son ! Take the money. Take the
land. Take all I've got, but keep my secret. I'm
an old man. I can't last Jong. I'll go over sea to
Ameriky. Anything, anything ! Don't put the rope
round the neck o' me, your father ! ' your father !
Jarge ! Jarge 1 For the love of God 1 "

His voice died in his throat as George broke from

him, and he fell grovelling on the earth. By the

time he had gathered his shaking bones together,

and crawled to the gate, the young man's figure had

disappeared round the bend of the road.

226 " COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.'*

CHAPTER XVIII.

BANE AND ANTIDOTE.

By poison seed
• O' tangled weed.

And bloom o* deadly power,
Nature soweth soft remede

O* healing leafe and flower —
The darnel by the nettle grows.

The cure beside the blight —
And where the spotted snakesroot blows

Lurks the milkwort white. — Old Song,

Jasper took the bottle from his messenger, and strode
to the kitchen, where he found Catherine sitting by
the window. Her hands were clasped in her lap,
her eyes fixed on the floor. A heavy tress of her
dark hair, escaping from the knot in which it had
been bound, fell across her cheek, accentuating the
deadly pallor of her face.

**IVe got the stuff, Miss Catherine," said Jasper.
''Shall I go up?"

She raised her eyes.

"Jasper, you have never deceived me. Tell me,
tell me truly, can you save her ? "

** COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE:' 227

"Sure enough," answered Jasper. **If I can do
what I want to do before yon fool comes back wi' his
drugs, I can save her and I will."

" He says," said Catherine, "that if you meddle
with the case, he will have nothing to do with it"

"So much the better for the little missie," said
Jasper ; " I 'd be loth to trust the life of a beast with
yonder blithering fool, let alone a Christian. I tell
ye. Miss Catherine, I can cure her. He knows nowt
about it I know alL"

Thoughts of which Jasper could guess nothing
were passing through Catherine's mind. Her keen
wits had gone ahead of the actual situation, and were
busy with the future. Her quarrel with her sister,
and the grounds of it, were public property by now.
Suppose Jasper's belief in his own skill was simply
the overweening conceit of an old-world, ignorant
peasant who felt his rule-of-thumb knowledge pitted
against the modern science he despised? Suppose
he failed to work the cure he so boldly guaranteed,
and Button withdrew, as he would certainly do if
his claims to professional respect were thrown aside ?
If Bridget died what would be the public verdict ?
Would not people believe— would she not have given
them a right to believe— that she had deliberately

228 " COME, LIVE WITH ME^ AND BE MY LOVE^

rejected the best aid at hand in order that her sister
might die? She saw the risk, and it was terrible.
Her courage quailed before it

'*Miss Catherine," said Jasper, solemnly, noting
her indecision, ** listen to me. So sure as you let
me go to your sister's bedside, so sure shall she be
whole and sound in a day or two. So sure as yon
Dutton has the fettlin' of her, so sure she '11 die. He
knows nowt o' the business — nowt at all. Ye know
me. I'm no liar nor bragger. I'll save your sister,
if you trust her i' my hands."

His solemn adjuration decided her.

**Come," she said simply, and rising, led the way
upstairs to Bridget's chamber.

The girl was lying as they had left her, pale and
silent, with closed eyes. At the sound of their en-
trance she looked towards them with a wandering,
almost witless gaze. Her eyes dwelt on Catherine
for a second or two without recognition, then she
trembled and cowered beneath the bedclothes.

"No, no!" she cried. **Go away, I'm afraid of
you ! "

Catherine turned a look of speechless agony on
Jasper. He nodded.

** Go, since the sight o' ye disturbs her ! 'Tis not

" COME^ LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.'' 229

your sister that speaks, 'tis the sickness in her. Go,
Miss Catherine; Til send for ye presently, and ye'll
have a kindlier welcome."

Catherine went back to th^ kitchen, and sank again
into her seat by the window. She could think to no
purpose; she had not even a definite, nameable
feeling. Her brain was heavy, her heart burned in
her breast like fire within the naked hand. Bridget
was ill, dying perhaps, and she had driven her from
her side. The words she had spoken to Bridget on
that dreadful night hummed through her mind. Could
she ever have spoken them, or was the whole series
of dreadful events simply a frightful dream ?

Geoffrey, booted and spurred, came on tiptoe into
the brick-paved kitchen.

'*Well," he asked softly, but as cheerily as he
could, '* how goes it ? Is she better ? "

"Jasper is with her," said Catherine ; **he says he
can save her."

** Why ^xeyou not with her too? This is no time
for you to be apart "

"I was there just now," said Catherine. '*She
saw me, and she cried. She was afraid of me. That
is what all our love has come to. Well, it's the world's
way I "

230 " COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE^

*' It's only her delirium," said Geoffrey soothingly.
"Sick people are often like that, and turn from those
they love most"

• • No, " replied Catherine. ' ' It's her heart I Hard
as mine 1 She's suffering— dying, perhaps — and I,
who should be at her side to help and comfort her,
sit here helpless! I reared her like a mother, I
cherished her, and watched her grow : I loved her,
and now I'm the one from whom she shrinks — my
presence adds to her pain. Oh, if she should die ! "

She shuddered, and buried her face in her hands.
"Even at the thoughtof that the tears won't come!"

She took the heavy lock of hair which fell across
her cheek, and gnawed at it

** My heart 's like stone ! *'

Geoffrey stood looking miserably down at her,
fain to offer comfort, but finding none.

" Is the doctor with her still?" he asked, for lack
of anything better to say.

"No, he has gone home for some medicine."

** And Jasper? Has he said anything? "

"Nothing, except that he will save her."

" Go to her, Catherine, " said Geoffrey. " Go to the
little one. Of all living souls you should be the
nearest to her now."

" COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE^ 23 1

** Haven't I told you/' cried Catherine, half fiercely,
"she doesn't want me — she "

** Don't believe that," said Geoflfrey. "Surely
you're not bitter still against your sister, at such a
moment as this?"

"I don't know. Don't ask me. Leave me, and
don't torture me, or I shall go mad ! "

Jasper descended from the bedroom, and, seeing
Geoffrey, paused a moment

"You've said nowt to her of the poison?" he
whispered, crossing him.

Geoffrey shook his head, and Jasper, laying his
finger on his lips as a hint to continued caution,
passed on to Catherine.

" I believe your sisters saved. Miss Catherine;
but 'twill be alongish job before she 's well and about
again. There's trouble there — sore trouble, that
preys upon the heart ; and she's had a cruel shock
beside."

Catherine listened with a dull face, seeming scarcely
to understand.

"Listen, Miss Catherine," continued the old man.
"You've had faith in your old sarvant, and I thank
'ee for it But ye must have faith to the end, or 'tis
no use. Yon doctor vule will be back here wi* his

232 " COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE:^

drugs directly. He hasn't the pluck to do much harm,
but it's a ticklish case, and Miss Bridget must take
none o* his stuff. Ye can manage that without him
knowing aught about it ? "

He had scarcely spoken when Button's voice was
heard in the yard, and a second after he entered, with
a bottle in his hand.

**Well, busybody,'' he cried, catching sight of
Jasper; **are you ready with any new charms and
incantations ? I suppose you think that what science
can't do superstition can ? "

** I know nowt o' superstition, as ye call it, "returned
Jasper, stolidly, ** and less o' science, but I know the
yerbs and the ways o' nature. You've given the poor
lass up, likely ? "

**I know this," said Dutton, **that if she doesn't
improve under my treatment before night, she'll
possibly die."

Catherine gave a sob at the word, and Jasper
laughed.

*' Don't mind him, Miss Catherine. Miss Bridget
won't die this time."

•*What!" cried Dutton, aghast at the old man's
calm superiority. '*You — an ignoramus, a bump-

♦* COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE:' 233

kin, dare to question the skill of a certificated medical
practitioner I Truly "

Rage and astonishment choked him, and he stood
swelling and gobbling at Jasper like a turkey-cock.
The Shepherd looked at him calmly, his gums bared
by a soundless laugh. Dutton thumped the bottle on
the table, and marched to the window.

'* There ye be, Miss Catherine!" said Jasper,
giving her the bottle, with a pressure of the hand and
a signal to her to remember his warning. ** The
directions is writ on the label."

Catherine looked at him speechless. He nodded
reassuringly, and she left the room.

'* And pray," said Dutton, turning with an affecta-
tion of ironical respect to the Shepherd, **what is
your diagnosis of the case, if I may make so bold as
to ask ? "

** What's my what ? " asked Jasper.

** What is the matter with the patient, according to
you ? "

**Just this," said Jasper, quietly. ** She's taken
poison stuff o' some kind."

** Poison ! " repeated Dutton.

** Hold your whist, sir!" said Jasper, in a voice
like the growl of a bulldog. ** Miss Catherine knows

234 " COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE:'

nowt about it. She has trouble enough to bear."

"Poison I " repeated Button, in a lower tone, and
with intense contempt

**The old man may be right," said Geoffrey to
Button. *• He has skill, and I've known cases which
puzzled the knowing ones, but where outsiders guessed
right"

*' I took you for a sensible fellow," said Button,
angrily. ' ' Poison ! I'll stake my reputation on my
diagnosis. It's a shock to the cerebral system, fol-
lowing close on a nerve crisis. At first I suspected
typhoid, but the symptoms changed. I confess my-
self rather puzzled, but I think her constitution will
pull her through. But if that old ignoramus is al-
lowed to meddle into my treatment, I warn you once
more, I'll resign the case."

**When the black crows fly," muttered Jasper,
drily, ** then comes the sick man's chance ! "

Button contented himself with a glance of lofty
disdain, and, turning to Geoffrey, said —

*'I must get away. Farmer Morris's bay mare is
expected to foal to-day. I shall be there till four
o'clock, and after that I shall call again."

Geoffrey went out with him into the yard, where
Button's wrath against Jasper exploded anew.

" COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.'' 235

"The old sorcerer I The madman I Do we live in
the Middle Ages or in the nineteenth century? If this
girl dies — and I warn you that she may — I'll have
the old wretch imprisoned for practising illegally on
the bodies of her Majesty's lieges ! "

"Suppose he 's right? " said Geoffrey. "Suppose
she is suffering from some poison ? "

"Suppose the moon is made of green cheese I**
cried Button. "I tell you the man is an ass; and
these idiots of villagers, these ignorant hounds,
accept his mumbo-jumbo and reject my science.
Even Catherine Thorpe, a sensible woman, rich, a
person with a head on her shoulders, doubts my skill
and engages this Cagliostro of the pigstye I She listens
to his d — d incantations ! She goes to him at dead
of night to ask for drams and love-philtres."

"What d'ye mean by that?" asked Geoffrey,
startled.

"What I say," retorted Button. "She was seen
up at the sheepfolds, last night, alone, at midnight,
on the quest, I suppose, for some drug to cure her
cows of barrenness and her lame ducks of the fall-
ing sickness."

"Who told you that?" demanded his companion.

"The Gaffer. He saw her on the Weald, and,

236 '* COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE:'

being curious, watched her. A woman like that I —
a rich woman — consulting a ragged fortune-telling
charlatan, her own servant I "

"Last night?" said Geoffrey, with bent brows.

** Yes, last night. And to-day, you see, she brings
down the old quack to defeat my science."

They had reached the gate by this time, and look-
ing absently down the lane, saw George Kingsley
approaching the house. His head was bent, he
walked slowly and hesitatingly, and when within a
hundred yards of them stopped and half tunied, as if
to retrace his steps. Catching sight of Geoffrey and
the Doctor, he came on with an obvious effort He
was very pale, and looked horribly disturbed.

" Does he know of this? " asked Dutton.

*'Yes," said Geoffrey. '*I told him a while ago.
You know he's in love with the little lass, and it was
a sad shock to him.'*

George came up to them.

'* Well? "he said, with a quick pant in his voice.
'*What news?"

'*Bad, I fear," said Geoffrey. **The doctor here
says "

"I say nothing," said Dutton. "Ihave done
what I can for her at present."

** COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE:' 237

"Tell me," cried George, "tell me the truth. I
can bear it Is she — is she dying ? "

"A short time will determine. Her constitution,
aided by my remedies, may pull her through. I have
administered an antispasmodic. And now, before
the result is seen, I am as good as shown the door
because an ignorant old ass talks of the girl being
poisoned."

George drew his breath sharply, and reaching out
his hand supported himself by the gate-posL His
face went paler. He glanced from Dutton to Geof-
frey and back again before speaking.

"And if by chance," he began huskily ; " one can
never tell — if by chance it should be that ? If Bridget,
by some accident, should have taken poison ? "

Dutton shrugged his shoulders roughly.

"Another of 'em," he cried. "Is the whole world
going mad? Poison I Why, there isn't a single
symptom of poisoning. No vomiting, for instance."

"But," said George, "I have heard that some
poisons don't cause that symptom."

"There are certain vegetable distillations that may
not," said Dutton — "belladonna for instance."

"Yes," cried George, "that's what I mean. Bella-
donna I "

238 " COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.'*

** How the devil could the girl have swallowed bel-
ladonna ? " cried Dutton, testily. ** That's not a drug
to be lying about a farm, like arsenic. No, the
cause is quite simple. It 's a cerebral shock, induced
possibly by malaria and temporary paralysis of the
nerve centres. But why talk ? I've done what I could.
If Catherine Thorpe has the brains to trust me, I'll
pull her sister through, if I can. If she lets that in*
fernal old charlatan meddle he'll kill her to a certainty,
and I shall wash my hands of the case. "

He nodded to the two men, and strode away in the
direction of Morris's farm.

•• COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVEr 339

CHAPTER XIX

THE SHADOW IN THE HOUSE.

I care not for the wintry blast

That screams in my roof-tree,
I let the tempests whistle past

The walls that shelter me ;
But when upon my own hearthstone

No flame o' light I see,
I turn my £a£e to the wall, and moan

That I forsaken be. — The Shepherdess* s Lament,

Sadly and silently George and Geoffrey crossed the
yard and entered the kitchen. Jasper was there, sit-
ting by the window and smoking a short, battered
briar-root pipe.

"Any news? " Geoffrey asked him.

"None yet awhile," said Jasper. "Miss Cath-
erine 's watching, and if there's any change she'll let
me know. Ye needn't be afear'd, though. None of
us poor creatures can answer for the will o' God, but
so far as mortal wits can answer for aught, Til answer
for the little maid's life. Take heart. Master Jarge."

* * Can I see her ? " asked George. * ' Can I speak to
her ? "

340 " COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE:^

**I think you'd better not now," said Geoffrey.
* * We seem to be at the very crisis of the case. The
shock of seeing you might be too much for her,

and " He hesitated a moment, and then added,

** Catherine is there."

••Catherine I What then ? " asked George.

••Ask yourself, lad. It is better you shouldn't
meet for the moment. Leave the rest to time, and
be content with Jasper's assurance that there is
hope. "

•• Ye may. Master Jarge," said Jasper. •• Ye may.
Bide here a minute, and maybe I'll have news for
ye."

He laid his pipe on the table and left the kitchen. ,

•'You're right," said George to Geoffrey, after a
long minute's silence ; '• I've no right to remain in
this house. Tell her from me, Geoffrey, that it is not
my fault that we are separated ; but that we must never
meet again. Tisl who have already put her life in
peril. Yes," he continued, in answer to a searching
look on Geoffrey's face ; "by turning love into hate
I've almost brought about her death."

He turned to the window, and looked out blindly,
unconscious of the look of strange meaning which
Geoffrey bent upon him.

** COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE?' 24 1

A few minutes later Jasper re-entered the kitchen,
so softly that they scarcely heard his step upon the
floor.

*'She 's saved 1 " cried the old man in a joyful
whisper.

''Saved I" repeated George, turning swiftly on
him.

"Ay, saved ! The corner 's turned. She 's lying
asleep, like a child. Her skin 's as soft as silk, and
her breathing like a new-born babe's. Ye can go
home happy, Master Jarge. "

There was more in his last words than met the ear.
George crossed the room, and, speaking in a harsh
dry whisper, said —

"You knew 'twas poison ? "

*' Ay, and I guessed, too, who gave it And, know-
ing that, I took care to gi'e the antidote and cleanse
the poison out before yon bragging hodmedod could
get nigh her wi' his science, as he calls it. Don't be
afeard, my lad. Tell thy feyther Til hold my tongue ;
for if I spoke 'twould only breed more trouble and do
no good to anybody."

George grasped his hand.

** God bless you. Shepherd ! " was all he could say.

"God bless you ! "

242 " COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.''

* * Ah, ay, lad ! " said the old man, heartily returning
the grip.

*' Lord ! Lord ! " he said, with a laugh to GeoflBrey.
•*How that vule Button will brag o' this cure!
Well, he s welcome to it Twill be a rare feather
in his cap."

George crossed over to Geoffrey and took his
hand.

** You'll see her, Geoffrey, soon. Give her my love
— my love and blessing. Tell her, too, that I forgive
Catherine for coming between us. But warn Bridget
to take care — that hate may find her, even here.
From this day forward I shall come no more. After
what has passed, my heart sickens under this
roof."

He bent his head, a great sob forced its way and
shook his whole body with its violence. He passed
his disengaged hand across his eyes, and, returning
Geoffrey's sympathising pressure once more, with-
drew the hand he held, and hurried from the
house.

Jasper's news was true. From the moment of
falling asleep after the administration of the Shep-
herd's antidote Bridget began to mend, and had she

" COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BEJfY LOVE.'' 243

no more to recover from than the Gaffer's poison
might have risen from her bed whole and sound that
evening.

It was the heart, not the body, that ailed now,
which suffered by the poison of her sister's words as
the body had done by the hellbroth the vile old
man had administered in the teacherous draught.

Bridget lay like a bruised flower on which some
careless or malignant foot had trodden, her vital
force fighting hard and sternly against the wound,
gaining a little every hour, not because she either
hoped or cared to live, but by the pure strength of
youth.

But as she grew slowly back to bodily health the
estrangement between her and her sister deepened.
Catherine had heard with a passion of silent joy Jas-
per's final assurance of her sister's recovery ; silent
joy, perforce, for the child was sleeping, and to have
awakened her might have meant grave injury or even
death. For the first hour or two after that news there
was not a bitter thought in Catherine's heart Even
her passionate desire for George's love had been
quenched for the moment by the dumb anguish of
her fear for Bridget's life, the awful feeling, natural
to her deep nature, that God had heard the wicked

244 ** COME, HVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE:'

words she had spoken, and was punishing her by
granting her impious wish.

But, the shock of joy over, with the certainty of
Bridget's continued life came the thought of all it
meant I

Those few hours of bitter agony had chastened
Catherines nature to such a point that, had the
choice been presented to her of laying down her life
that her sister and rival might live and enjoy the hap-
piness denied to her, she would have done so with
scarce a struggle — nay, would have welcomed the
moment of that crowning sacrifice. But the nature
capable of such complete self-immolation required
further chastening yet before it would let her live to
witness her sister's triumph. The bitterness of hate
was gone, but the sanctity of renewed and perfect
affection was not yet born, and empty of hate and
hope alike, her heart seemed barren of human feeling.

She performed the offices of the sick-room with a
dead, mechanical regularity which Bridget found
more bitter to bear than her sister's absence and
neglect would have been.

Catherine's set face, which she sometimes forced
to a pitiful smile, crushed her. A score of times a
day, could she have found the courage, she would

" COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE, "" 245

have flung her arms about her sister's neck, and have
blessed and thanked her with glad tears and kisses.
One kindly touch of Catherine's hand, one mute look
of the old, unclouded affection of which, so short a
time ago, her eyes had been so full, would have
melted the spell that bound her. But it never came.

With a bitter self-abasement, which was more re-
morse than repentance, Catherine ministered to her
sister's needs, but the love which would have fallen
on the tender, wounded heart like dew, the only
medicine Bridget needed, was not yet hers to give.

Bridget was not to blame that under Catherine's
unchanging mask of stony duty she could not read
the struggle that was passing in her heart. Natu-
rally, her honest mind, unconscious of any wilful
wrong done to her sister, revolted against the cold
injustice of Catherine's treatment.

''What right has she to be angry and unkind?"
she asked herself with passionate reiteration. ** Is it
my fault that George loves me ? Is it a sin for me
to love George ? If she had ever told me of her feel-
ings towards him, I might have conquered mine for
her sake, but she never gave a word or sign. It is
unjust 1 It is cruel ! "

And so, the two sisters, whose whole life history

246 " COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.""

till now had been a pure and beautiful devotion one
to the other, were being swept apart, the gulf which
separated them growing hourly deeper and wider.
To Bridget, her convalescence — the prospect of life
with neither the old affection nor the new love which
might have replaced it — was a nightmare. There
were moments when she longed intensely for death,
and wondered, that, so longing she should yet con-
tinue to gain strength with every passing hour.

In the dead silence of the night, as she lay awake,
fearing to stir lest the sound should bring that im-
placable figure of her sister to her bedside, she wept
long and silently.

"Is it wicked to want to die? Is it wicked to
pray to die ? "

Her soul's desire flashed into words before she
knew.

"Oh, God, let me die, if it be Thy will I "

Mr. Button, as the reader has probably discovered
by himself by this time, was not likely to be reticent
about any matter which he conceived likely to re-
dound to his own glory and importance, and he was
very loud over his successful treatment of Bridget s
case. It was a double triumph for him, for he had
not merely, in his own belief, saved the girl's life.

" COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE Mr LOVE.'' 247

but had scored a final and conspicuous victory over
that presumptuous personal foe of science, Jasper the
Shepherd.

Dutton was by no means an unkindly man, and
though he wouTd have taken the recommendation to
silence regarding Jasper's diagnosis of the case in
Catherine's presence more quietly if it had come
from anybody but Jasper, he still respected it, and
did not add to Catherine's troubles or his own
triumph by speaking of it to her. But in the village
alehouse, and in the rooms which his crony Marsh
occupied over the saddler's shop, he was loud in
derision of the silly old quack.

His idea of conversational style at inspired mo-
ments w^as to cram into any given sentence as many *
polysyllables as it could be expected to hold without
bursting, and his talk was listened to with awestruck
respect by his simple audience.

*' Is it not incredible, gentlemen," he would ask
of the respectfully attentive knot of listeners at the
Queen and Crown — ** is it not incredible that at this
epoch of unprecedented scientific activity, at this
apex, I may say, of our vaunted civilisation, an indi-
vidual like Miss Catherine Thorpe, a territorial pro-
prietress, a woman of wealth and education, should

248 '* COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE^

encourage the superstitious devices of a rural quack-
salver? But for me, but for my promptitude and
firmness in vindicating the science of which I am an
unworthy exponent. Miss Bridget must have inevi-
tably succumbed to the malpractices of that old charla-
tan. Of his insolence to me personally I say nothing.
I can, I hope, afford to pass it over in the contemp-
tuous silence it merits. But when I consider that
through the supineness and indolence of the legal
authorities of this neighbourhood the lives of our
fellow-citizens, of her Majesty's liege subjects, gen-
tlemen, are liable to be juggled away by the mumbo-
jumbo of an uninstructed yokel, who presumptuously
dares to tamper with the mysteries of my craft, I feel
that the occasion demands legislative interference.
Are there, or are there not, laws constituted by her
Majesty's legislative assemblies for the repression
and punishment of illegal medical practitioners?
There are I And in my opinion there should be also
laws to visit with condign punishment those individ-
uals who encourage and employ such impostors, to
the detriment of society and of the public health."

He dramatised his battle with Jasper, and, after
one or two recitals of it, polished his retorts to the
impudent assumptions of that old pretender to such a

*' COME, LIVE WITHME^ AND BE MY LOVE:' 249

polysyllabic perfection that the Shepherd's continued
existenee seemed a wonder.

Marsh said that a man who could talk like that
ought to be in Parliament Dutton, in his own style
of oratory, made it clear that he thought he had for
ever made it impossible for the most ignorant of
Jasper's clients to believe in him any more.

The case of Miss Thorpe had been one of life or
death. Even he had been puzzled by the symptoms.
Many doctors — men as well read as himself in the
mysteries of medicine, but lacking his courage and
decision — might have lost the patient by hesitation.
He had acted with promptitude, and there was Miss
Bridget Thorpe, alive and recovering.

From the first adminstration of his antispasmodic
she had turned the corner. Had he not been by, that
old quack would have poured into the poor young
lady's system some detestable concoction as an
antidote for poison. Poison, quotha ! It was lucky
for the old ass that he had not been permitted to
meddle. He would have killed the patient, gentle-
men, and then — why, then, it might have been a
hanging job for him !

Geoffrey Doone, drinking his sober glass of ale
before going to his solitary cottage, heard Button's

250 " COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.""

voice booming away in the bar-parlour, interrupted
every now and then by Marsh's cackling tones.

"The prating idiot!'' he muttered to himself;
**if he guessed what he was doing, even he would
hold his bragging tongue. It '11 be all over the place
now that Jasper suspected poison, and then — there's
no saying what a crowd of ignorant gossips might
think or say."

He stood with his half-emptied glass in his hand,
staring before him with knitted brows.

"Plain speech is best, nine cases out of ten," he
said half aloud : "I '11 go and see her now. She 'd
better learn it from me than from the public talk. "

He set the glass upon the table, and, walking out
of the inn, made his way through the deserted lanes
to the farm.

" COAtE, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY CO VE: ' 251

CHAPTER XX.

THE LAST BLOW.

When all the world hath turned away,

And dulness clouds the sky and air,
If thou, O love, wilt be my stay.

There is no woe I will not bear I
O love, sweet love, remain awhile

Here in these shadows where I fare.
Cheered by thy presence and thy smile,

ril sing aloud without a care !
But wing away and leave me here,

Who then shall comfort my despair?
To lose thee, love, and linger on.

Is the one wo3 1 cannot bear. — Sir Thomas Sutton.

Geoffrey had started at a round pace for the farm, but
before he had covered half the ground his speed
slackened and his walk became slow and uncertain.
Button's braggart talk had revived and given form
to a fear which had been tormenting him ever since
George's appearance on the previous morning. The
words George had used : '*Tis /who have put her
life in peril. By turning love into hate, I have
almost brought about her death," had been constantly
in his mind. Combined with the news of Catherine's

252 " come; live with me, and be my lo ve: *

visit to the sheepfold (he had been afraid to ask
George if he had learned that circumstance from his
father) and with Jasper s positive assertion that Brid-
get was suffering from the effects of poison, the words
had seemed to Geoffrey to intimate on George's part
so horrible a suspicion of Catherine that he wondered
how any man, even so distraught with grief as
George was at Bridget's danger and suffering, could
entertain it

From an open enemy, or from one merely indiffer-
ent, the accusation would have been suffciently ter-
rible, but from George, the man whom Catherine loved
— Geoffrey's heart sank within him as he thought of
making the truth known to her. If Dutton had only
held his tongue about Jasper's reading of the case,
there would have been no need to speak ; Bridget's
recovery would have covered everything. But now
the Shepherd's suspicion — which Geoffrey, we must
remember, knew to be a certainty — would be all over
the village in a few hours. The floodgates of tattle
once opened, there was no knowing what might
ensue.

* ' She must be told, " said Geoffrey. * * She must be
put on her guard. I 'd rather cut off my right hand
than do it, but it's got to be done."

*• COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE:' 253

He resumed his rapid walk, and arriving at the farm,
went straight to the kitchen-door, and knocked.
Receiving no answer to his summons, he opened
the door and looked in. Catherine was sitting with
her back towards him staring into the fading fire,
whose dying flicker was the only light in the room.

She did not hear his entrance, and he was almost
at her side before the sound of his step roused her
from the trance of thought in which she was plunged.
She started with a quick and sudden tremor, and
called his name.

'* Yes," he said; *' 'tis I, Miss Catherine."

** You startled me. I — I was thinking."

•*I knocked," said Geoffrey.

**I didn't hear you ! " she said, and rising, began
to busy herself in lighting the lamp and arranging
the articles on the dresser. Geoffrey followed her
motions, debating in his mind how best to begin what
he had to say, until the silence became unendurable.

At last he cleared his throat, and spoke in the most
commonplace tone he could assume.

"So the danger's over, Catherine, and the little
one is pulling round."

' ' Yes, " said Catherine. ' ' She '11 be about in a little
while now."

254 ** COME, LIVE WITHMEy AND BE MY LOVE.''

She spoke wearily, as if of a subject which had no
particular interest for her or any one.

**It must be a great relief to you. You must be
very glad."

* * I — I suppose so. Yes, very glad, " said Catherine,
in the same hollow and uninterested tone. **She
has come round as quickly as she ailed. I don't
know what can have been the matter with her. I
asked Jasper, but he seemed to avoid the question."

Geoffrey's heart jumped. She had herself ap-
proached the subject he had meant to speak of.
It was his opportunity, but he somehow could not
force himself to speak, and meanwhile Catherine
went on.

**rve helped her to dress, and placed her in the
arm-chair by the window of her room."

** Why are you not with her? " asked Geoffrey.

** Because she doesn't need me. She doesn't want

me.

'* Has she said so ? "

** Said so ? " answered Catherine, with a dreary half-
laugh. ** She has said nothing. She /ooks / that's all.
When Fm with her, her eyes follow me all about the
room, and when I look at her, or speak to her, they fill
with tears. We're best apart. When she wants any-

" COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.'' 255

thing she will call me. Ill go to her, but — I can't sit
with her alone."

**Why not?" asked Geoffrey.

"Because I can't," answered Catherine, and the
woman's reason for once seemed sufficient. " I can't
bear to be with her," she added, sitting at the table
and letting her head fall between her hands. . "It's
like being with a corpse. If she 'd cry or reproach
me, or curse me as I cursed her the other night, I
could bear it better than her silence. It kills me.
It drives me mad. There are moments when I think
I am mad. "

Her bent figure, the trembling hands which clutched
the heavy coils of her loosened hair, the hollow and
nronotonous voice, were all eloquent of despair.

Geoffrey looked at her with an infinite pity in his
rugged face. There was silence between them for a
time, till Catherine, raising her face with a long,
tremulous sigh, met her companion's gaze.

"What's the matter?" she asked, half angrily
resenting the compassion she read in it. "Why do
you look at me like that ? "

' * Because I'm troubled on your account, Catherine. "

"And why on my account ? " she demanded.

He did not answer immediately, but stood looking

256 " COME, LI^E WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.'*

down at his intertwined fingers and gnawing his
lower lip.

** Why on my account? " she asked again.

*'I think you know," he said slowly and with
difficulty. *'I think you know, Catherine, that I
would serve you if I could — that Tm your friend? "

** Yes, "she answered, with a momentary recur-
rence of something like her old familiar manner ; ** I
know that, Geoffrey — the best and truest in the world.
I've never doubted that I never shall, I hope, what-
ever else I come to doubt"

** That's good to hear," said Geoffrey, simply. *' It
helps me to speak."

All the same there was a pause of some seconds
before he opened his lips again. •

** There's something on my mind I want to tell
you, Catherine. I must tell you, though it chokes
me in the saying."

** Well, Geoffrey, what is it?"

For the moment her faithful servant's personal
trouble drew Catherine from the dull, uninterested
mood into which she had fallen.

* * Speak out, please. It isn't like you to be afraid
to speak your mind, especially to me."

** I'd rather cut my tongue out than tell you," he

" COME^ LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.'' 257

groaned. '*But you'd better hear it from me than
from other people, perhaps from — well, ii*s this, I 've
been having a glass of beer at the Queen and Crown,
and I heard Button talking about Miss Bridgets
sickness and saying how he 'd cured her and kept
old Jasper from meddling with the case. Now, we
know — you and I — that it was not Button who
saved her, but Jasper."

"Well," said Catherine, wonderingly; "what's
coming of all this ? '*

** If you '11 wait a minute you '11 see," answered
Geoffrey. *''Tain't so easy to explain. You say
you asked Jasper to tell you what ailed the
child ! "

''Yes."

"And he wouldn't give you a straight answer?"

"No. He avoided the question. His manner
was very strange. "

"Well," said Geoffrey, more uncomfortably than
ever, "he told me, and he asked me to keep quiet
about it, and so I should have done, only "

"Well, well!" cried Catherine. "Why don't

you speak? Bon't you see how you are torturing

me?"

"Well, then, in a word," said Geoffrey screwing

258 " COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.'^

his courage to the sticking point with a mighty efifort,
**what ailed the lass was this — she'd taken some
deadly poison."

Catherine's breath escaped in a quick pant The
word seemed to have stabbed her like a knife.

*' Poison/" she repeated at last in a faint whisper..
'* Impossible ! "

**No," said Geoffrey, *Mt isn't impossible— it's
true ! Jasper treated her for poison, and saved her
life, so poison it must have been. Now," he con-
tinued, ** I want to ask you a question ? "

Catherine's eyes dwelt on his face with an unchang-
ing look of horror. She nodded slightly, but could
find no word to speak.

**Did you go, the night before last, up to the
sheepfold on the Weald to speak with Jasper ? "

" If I did, " asked Catherine, '' what then ? "

** Why did you go there? "

"Whose business is that but mine?" asked
Catherine.

** It concerns us all," said Geoffrey, '*for your
sake. Jasper knows the plants that cure sickness in
man and beast He knows, too, the plants which
breed poison and cause death. If I had a sick beast
I wished to kill without pain, I should go to Jasper.

** COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE:' 259

If I had an enemy I hated, or saw somebody standing
between me and my heart's desire, I might, if the
devil put the thought into my head, go to the same

man."

"My God!" cried Catherine, staggering to her
seat. '* What do you mean ? "

"It's not my thought, Catherine. Lord forbid
that such a thought should ever enter my mind. But
George Kingsley has been here. He knows that
Bridget has been almost done to death by poison.
Put these things together. Miss Catherine, and think
what folks may say. Your visit to the Weald the
night before last, the little one's sickness next morn-
ing — a sickness which only Jasper knew how to cure
—and then George's last words to me, that his
heart sickened beneath this roof. I can hear his
voice now," Geoffrey continued: "*Tell Bridget
from me it is not my fault we are separated, but that
we must never meet again. 'Tis.1 who have already
put her life in peril. By turning love into hate I 've
almost brought about her death.' Those were his
words, Catherine, George Kingsley's words."

Catherine had risen from her seat.

''He said that ! " she cried. "George? He sus-
pected me — accused me of poisoning my sister ? "

26o " COME^ LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE,

"Not in words, poor lad," said Geoflfrey, "but I

fear he thinks "

"And you?" she cried fiercely. "You? What

do you think, Geoflfrey Doone ? "

"l*d stake my life that ifs a lie ! No," he cried,
as she opened her lips to speak again, "I want no
denial. D'ye think I need any ? The thing 's a lie
on the face of it — a lie as black as hell. I spoke to
warn you, to put you on your guard. The accusation
must be met, if it is made, and it may be. The Gafifer
saw you at the sheepfold. 1 fear — I fear that George
suspects you, and that fool Button is talking of Jasper
saying Bridget had been poisoned. It's like a trail
of gunpowder that any stray spark may fire. Your
estrangement from Bridget, too, would give it colour
with folk who like to think evil, and God knows there's
no lack of such. I would have spared you if I could, "
he continued miserably ; "but I had to speak. If it
hits you so hard coming from me, who knows that
you're innocent, think what it would have been if
you had felt it whispered about you, the country
talk, the scandal growing, then reaching the little
one's ears, and turning her whole heart against
you ! "

Catherine had sunk to her seat again, her arms lay

** COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVEr 261

lax on the. table in front of her, her eyes vacant, her
face as pale as ashes.

'*Come, come, Catherine I " cried Geofifrey, taking
her hand ; **Bear a brave heart. Don't let it break
you down. It's a time for strength, not for weakness.
You love the little lass. Take her back to your heart
again, and let the world see it. What s a silly lying
rumour like this, against all your life of love and
devotion, that has made you a proverb over the coun-
try-side for all that's good and kind ? "

Catherine took no heed of his voice or of the touch
of his hand. She seemed neither to hear nor to feel.
The blow had been too heavy, brain and heart were
crushed by it for the moment Her dumb, vacant
stare frightened Geofifrey, and wrung his heart with
an unspeakable anguish.

"Don't think any harder of the lad than you can
help, Catherine," he said, with a tremor in his
voice.

His whole honest heart was filled with pity for the
sufifering of the woman he loved, and he bent him-
self to the task of defending the man she had preferred
to him. He was eager to do this, simply and gladly,
if thereby he might by a straw's weight reduce her
burden.

262 ** COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.*'

**He loves the little lass. Tis not in our control
to love or stop loving. It might be happier, for some
of us if 'twas different," he continued, with a patient
sigh; '*but it isn't. Love comes and goes as the
wind shakes the wheat — as God wills it, 1 suppose.
George knows of your quarrel with her, and I suppose
the Gaffer told him of seeing you at the sheepfold.
It's an awful thought to have against you, but the lad's
mad with love, and he's not responsible. He'll come
to see how wrong and wicked such a thought is.
He'll repent and make amends for it."

Still Catherine neither moved nor spoke, but sat
staring vacantly at him, with a set look of horror and
despair which chilled his blood, and the thought
flashed across his mind that the shock had unhinged
her reason.

*' You're overset," he said, going to the dresser and
pouring out of glass of water from a jug there. "Here,
drink this, Miss Catherine."

He held it to her lips, but by this time she was
breathing so rapidly that she could not have drunk,
even had she been conscious of his well-intended
assistance. Suddenly she rose with a convulsed face,
an expression he had never seen there before, and
began to pace about the kitchen ; her breathing be-

*' COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE " 263

came stertorous and was interrupted by loud, rending
sobs.

A man more accustomed to the ways of women
than was Geoffrey would have understood the crisis,
but he was helpless, and could only follow her, en-
treating her to be calm. She seemed neither to see
nor to hear him.

The sobs became moans, the moans shrieks, and
with a wild clutch at the air she fell to the floor, cry-
ing so that the house rang with her voice. Hurried
footsteps and the voices of frightened women were
heard, and Amanda and another girl burst into the
room.

** It's hysterics!" criedAmanda. " Get some water;
loosen her dress ; and you, that be a man," she con-
tinued to Geoffrey, **go thy ways and let her be, a
poor suffering lamb."

Poor Geoffrey, thoroughly bewildered, went out
into the open air, with a dim sense of having seen
Bridget's frightened face peering from the staircase
door. Catherine's shrieks rang in his ears for half an
hour afterwards, and it was not till they ceased that
he dared to knock timidly at the kitchen door and
ask for news of her.

She was better, Amanda said. Should he go for

264 " COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE,''

the doctor? No. She would not have the doctor.
Miss Bridget was with her. She seemed like a mad
thing, kissing Miss Bridget and crying over her.

** Whatever have you been a saying to her, Mr.
Doone, to upset her in this wise? '* asked the servant.

"That I can't tell you," said Geoffrey. ** I'll call
and see how she is in the morning," and so went
home, as unhappy a man as any in England.

'* COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE:' 265

CHAPTER XXI.

A PEEP OF SUNSHINE.

Sweet is sunshine thro* the rain,
All the moist leaves laugh amain.
Birds sing in the wood and lane

To see the storm go by, O !
Overhead the lift grows blue,
Hill and valley smile anew,
Rainbows fill each drop of dew.

And a rainbow spans the sky, O !

The Shepherd* s Calendar,

The emotional crisis produced in Catherine's nature
by Geoffrey's communication was terrible, and its
manifestation in the form of an hysteric fit fright-
ened the whole household to a quite disproportionate
extent.

To a normally constituted woman tears come
easily, and are as easily dried. Each emotion, as it
touches her. provokes its own fitting expression and
passes, leaving little or no trace. With Catherine it
was otherwise. There was an idea abroad about
her, as there generally is among the acquaintances

266 ** COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE,''

of self-repressive people who have the art of conceal-
ing their emotions, that her nature was too hard and
unfeminine to permit her to feel very deeply on any
subject. We, who have followed the history of the
crucial period of her life thus far, know how shallow
that judgment was.

Still waters are not always the deepest, and a good
many people have earned the reputation for heroic
repression of emotion by the simple means of having
no emotion to repress. Catherine's nature was as
far removed from that extreme of insensibility as it
was from the opposing extreme of sentimentality.
She felt deeply and suffered keenly, and as her pride
held her from indulging freely in the manifestations
of emotion which come so easily to her sex in gen-
eral, she had been all her life creating, so to speak,
a reserve fund of tears, which now, when the deeps
of her nature were opened, burst with a fury which
both astonished and alarmed. The grief of such a
woman, when it once conquers her, is, compared
with that of a more easily moved nature, as a tropi-
cal thunderstorm compared with an April shower.
Had Catherine passed dry-eyed through the fire which
Geoffrey's words had lit, her reason, perhaps her life,
might have been lost.

" COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE:' 267

Pityingly and won deringly they bore her, when the
first terrible stage of her hysteria was passed, to her
chamber, and laid her on the bed. She lay there
with her eyes fast shut, but between the hard-set
lids the tears ran freely. All that she seemed con-
scious of now was the presence of Bridget, and she
clung to her with a hard, unconscious grip. The
younger sister, divining that whatever had happened
to explain Catherine's condition, it was something
germane t6 the affair which had already revolu-
tionised their relations, sat beside her in silent
pity and expectation, wiping the salt tears from her
own pale cheeks, while Amanda and the other ser-
vants cackled and whispered with wonder and terror
about the room.

"She is better now,*' said Bridget. **You had
better go and leave us. I can do all that will be
required. "

The girls would have lingered, but could find no
pretext, and unwillingly retired. Catherine took no
heed of their going, but lay still, the tears pour-
ing in an unceasing stream from under her dark
lashes and her body tremulous with her sobbing
breath.

' * What is it, Catherine ? " asked Bridget, bending

268 " COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.''

over her. '' What is it? Won't you tell me? You
know me, dear, don't you ? " she asked, after waiting
for a reply. ** You know your sister?"

A strong pressure of Catherine's hand was the only

response.

**Tell me what it is. What has Geoffrey said to

you ? "

The tears ran on, but no answer followed. Brid-
get, with a patient sigh, slid her arm beneath her
sister s neck. At that Catherine moved'to the edge
of the bed, and threw her arm suddenly about her
waist. Little by little, Bridget felt the tense muscles
slacken ; the tears ran more slowly, the breath quieted
at every inhalation, and in a little time Catherine lay
sleeping in her sister's arms. The strong woman,
broken by her storm of emotion, slept like a tired
child on the bosom of the frail girl she had cher-
ished.

A deep and solemn gladness filled Bridget's
heart. She knew not why, but the pall of trouble
which had enfolded her life seemed to have slipped
away.

** She loves me — my sister loves me again ! " she
murmured to herself. '^She knew me, she knew it
was my arm on which she lay."

" COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BEMYLOVE:* 269

Not even a thought of George troublied her. He
was somewhere in the background of her mind, but
the tranquil joy of having reconquered the old affec-
tion which had been the main part of her life, ban-
ished all thought of the trouble which the new love
had brought

Tenderly as a mother might caress the face of a
sleeping babe, she touched Catherine's wet cheek
with her lips. Catherine's grasp of her tightened
ever so little, as though the happy sense of their
reunion was present with her even in her sleep.

It was grey morning when Catherine awoke to find
herself still in Bridget's arms. For a moment she
looked about the room with the da2ed stare of the
sleeper who awakens amid unfamiliar circumstances,
then a long, deep sigh showed that she remembered
the events of the preceding night

'* Ah, little sister," she cried, drawing Bridget closer
to her. **You have been here all night, watching
over me ! "

"You are better now ? " asked Bridgfet

"Yes," said Catherine. ** I am better now. How
much better ! Bridget, I have to ask your pardon
for those wicked words. Yes, I musi, " she continued,
as Bridget strove to prevent her speaking. " I must

270 " COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE:'

They have been heavy on my heart ever since I
spoke them. They have brought their punishment
Forgive me, dear I I was mad and wicked."

** You never meant them, darling," said Bridget.
" Let us forget them. We are together now, as we
used to be, and we will go on loving each other, and
living for each other, as we did, and think nothing of
other people any more."

In the first flush of her reconciliation with Catherine,
the sacrifice implied in the last words — renunciation
of George — looked almost easy. Catherine kissed
her with a sad smile.

"You must be very tired with watching me all
night," she said. **Go to your room, dear, and try
to sleep. You need not be afraid of leaving me, I
want to be alone. But kiss me again first"

They parted after a long embrace, and Catherine,
rising from the bed, paced quietly about her chamber
in the broadening light

The night of passion and despair was over. Calm
and pure as the morning radiance, flooding field and
sky, the dawn of a purer love had arisen in her soUl.
She felt strangely strong and peaceful — a creature
renewed, and when, after a few minutes passed on
her knees at her bedside, she descended, there was

*' COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.*' 271

a tranquil happiness upon her face, which astonished
all who had seen her on the previous night

Her first inquiry was for Geoffrey. He had called
an hour before, and, learning that she was still asleep,
had gone, promising to come again, after his morn-
ing tour of the farm.

She went through the tasks of the hour in her old,
accustomed fashion, and when the time for Geoffrey's
second coming was near, went and awakened Bridget
Geoffrey was in the kitchen when they entered.

Catherine greeted him with her ordinary manner,
and, saying simply, ** Bridget and I want to speak to
you," led the way to the parlour.
' "You asked me last night," she said to her sister,
"what Geoffrey had said to me that had overcome
me so. I am going to tell you, dear. You must be
brave, for what I am going to tell you is terrible.
Somebody has tried to kill you — to poison you, my
child I "

"Catherine I" cried Bridget, in a voice of horrified
surprise.

"And do you know who they say has done so?
Do you know who is thought guilty of planning your
death ? Me I — your sister I "

Bridget stood for a moment as if frozen, and then,

272 " COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE^'

with a cry, threw her arms round Catherine, and
broke into tears.

' * You see, " said Catherine to Geoffrey, * *she knows
it couldn't be I "

** Know it I " cried Bridget, in a voice broken with
sobs. ** Whoever said it ? — whoever thought of such
a wicked thing ? My darling ! My own dear Cather-
erine ! The sister who has reared me, loved me, cher-
ished me I Oh I shameful I cruel I " She kissed her
sister passionately. "Oh, don't think I believe it,
dear I — don't, or it will kill me I "

" It*s worth all the trouble you've gone through,"
said Geoffrey, '*to see you together again like this.
This is why I told you, Catherine. I knew you had *
only to hear of such a foul suspicion to prove to the
whole world that it was impossible."

* Thank you, my friend," said Catherine, simply.

"But," cried Bridget ''someone wished my death I
Someone I "

"No one, no one," said Catherine, interrupting her,
and tenderly smoothing her hair. " No one wished
it, so don't talk of it. It's all a mistake. It has had
its uses. It has brought us together again, little one.
Let us forget it."

* • But why did they speak of poison ? " cried Bridget

•* COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.'' 273

'*Why did they suspect you? Ah I " she cried
with a sudden inspiration, '*I know — because of
George ! '*

Catherine tried to speak, but Bridget stayed her
mouth with her hand. '

*'No, no; don't speak yet. They think George
came between us. They think we hate each other
enough for a crime like that ! And if you had been
ill and dying they might have thought the same of*
me. Shame on them ! Shame I But we'll silence
them, dear ; we'll stop their wicked tongues. We'll
prove to them we are not so evil as they think us.
We'll show them what we are to one another. You
love George — you shall marry him."

*' Bridget ! " cried Catherine ; *' what are you say-
ing ? You would give him up to me ? "

** You've given up all else in the world for my sake.
You've given me all — your love, your life. You've
lived for me ; it*s my turn now," she cried tenderly,
hiding her flushing face on Catherine's neck. "It's
my turn now."

Catherine looked to Geoffrey with a sad and pity-
ing smile, in which there was a touch of motherly
triumph.

"And yet," she murmured, touched to the soul by

274 ** COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.**

the wild, childish generosity; **and yet you love
him."

"No, no," cried Bridget, impetuously; **at least,
I can forget him ; I can live without him."

** Could you ever do that, little one?" asked
Catherine.

' * Ye-es, " sobbed Bridget. * * I would try. I must I
I will ! "

' **But what would George say to that arrange-
ment?" asked Catherine, with a tender half-laugh in
her voice. **I am afraid we must give him a say
in the matter, and he might not like to be handed
over in that way."

*'0h, dear ! Oh, dear! " cried Bridget, in a distress
which might have had its comic side to a disinter-
ested spectator of the scene.

"No, no," said Catherine. "You're too weak,
my darling — too like a tender flower. You'd droop
and die without George's love. But you shall not
No. ril prove to you that I want you to live."

"But you— you?" began Bridget. "Oh, it's
shameful — I can do nothing — give nothing, and you
have given me all. I won't ! I won't marry
George ! I'd rather die ! "

"Hush, dear! hush! and let me speak," said

** COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MYLOVE:' 275

Catherine. **It was just madness and folly on my
part; it was bound to have 'an end. Yes, 'twas
only a day's shadow on our lives, and it's past and
gone. I thought I loved George — I thought he
might have learned to love me. A fine affair that !
He is only a lad, and I — how the people would have
laughed to see a silly old woman like me — no, no,
little one, I was mad and God has brought me back
my reason. It's you, not I, that must be George's
wffe ! "

She spoke lightly, with a fond laughter in her eyes,
and Geoffrey, watching the scene, marvelled within
himself. Was it genuine, or only the most con-
summate acting? Whichever it was, it was won-
derful.

"And now," she continued, ** all that we have to
do is to call in the happy man and name the day,
and set the bells a-ringing. Not a word, little one.
It shall be as I say. You shall marry your own
true love, and soon, soon ! You won't forget me in
your happiness, will you, dear? You'll remember
the cross, gjumpy sister, and come and let her see
you sometimes, won't you? Nay, nay, dear, you
mustn't- cry yourself ill again. We'll forget all our
troubles. There'll be nothing but sunshine and

276 •• COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.**

merrymaking now. A wedding-dress for my little
sister, a wedding ring \ "

She broke out into laughter which had in it a
touch of the hysteria of the previous night Her
cheeks were flushed, her eyes sparkled.

** Won't we have the laugh of them all I Won't
we have grand times, dear, here at the old farm ! '*

**But, Catherine I Catherine!" cried Bridget
** It's impossible. Even if you are willing, how can
I marry George ? That dreadful old man will cast
him ofiEl He'll be ruined."

"What? the Gaffer?" said Catherine. "Don't
fret yourself about him, Bridget I know the music
to make him dance at your wedding. Trust me,
Bridget, he won't stand in your way. Come,
Geoffrey, won't George and Bridget make a pretty
pair ! "

"Ay, indeed," said Geoffrey, turning aside to hide
his emotion.

"And I know a man," said Catherine, reaching
out her hand to him, "who'll be glad to be their
groomsman. A bit tough and grizzled like myself, eh,
Geoffrey?" she laughed again. "Till then I warn
you to take care of Bridget, for fear I ill-use her and
try to do her harm ! "

" COME. LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.'' 277

She kissed the girl again with a passionate cry.

"Go, Geoffrey I Leave us now. Thank you, my
true friend, for speaking as you did last night. It
isn't the first service you've rendered me, not by many,
but it's the greatest of all, and I shan't forget it I "

Geoffrey took her hand again, and, silently press-
ing it, walked from the room, leaving the reunited
sisters in each other's arms.

»l8 " COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.*'

CHAPTER XXII.

JASPER PLAYS THE PEACEMAJCER.

The wind blows chill in my roof-tree.

The rain is falling dreary, O I
There's storm between my love and me,

And I wake and weep fiill weary, 1
My curse be on the wind and rain,

And on this wintry weather, O 1
For Where's the hand can heal my pain,
And bring the sunshine back again

To shine on us together, O ? — The Raifiy Day.

Quite unconsciously, and without the faintest attempt
to calculate results, Geoffrey had adopted the one
mode of treatment which could possibly have cured
Catherine's infatuation.

By telling her in good set terms that George Kings-
ley thought her capable of planning and attempting
Bridget's death (although, as the reader is aware,
Geoffrey was mistaken on this point, and George
thought nothing of the kind) he turned her wounded
vanity into vigorous indignation. Had she been a
woman of less noble nature the result might have
been different. "Hell has no fury like a woman

•* COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE:' 279

scorned," says the poet. But Catherine's furious
mood was long past Scorn, like a powerful cautery,
destroyed the last traces of morbid disease, and re-
stored the balance of the strong woman's healthy
animalism. From that moment Catherine was de-
termined, at any suffering and at any cost, to rise
superior to what she at last recognised as an unworthy
passion.

It was now, as it sfeemed to her, Bridget and her-
self contra mundum ; even Geoffrey was left out of
count, as a sort of sympathetic looker-on.

The little sister was a child again, to be protected,
to be clasped close, to be tended with endless offices
of love. All the world should see that no evil power
could part those twain. George especially even
should see it He should be shamed by his own
suspicion, and humiliated by the spectacle of their
devotion.

The thought of what George had thought and done
was the bitterest thing which this proud woman had
to bear, but it had come to save her against herself
and to turn her yearning love to absolute repulsion.
Sometimes, as it passed through her mind, the young
man, with his youthful face, and quiet, winning ways,
grew positively hateful to her. But she remembered

j8o ** COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE^

that he was the light of the little sister's life, and
crushed the hatred down.

Three days after that memorable reconciliation,
when Bridget was out of all danger and had recovered
a little of her old lightness, Catherine sent a secret
message to George Kingsley, asking him to come
over and speak to her. Not without a terrible strug-
gle with her own pride did she determine on that
course, but her strength of will prevailed. George
replied by the same messenger that he could not come.
Her mind was at once made up. She determined to
go to him and have an explanation face to face.

It was late in the evening. Bridget having already
retired to rest, Catherine was alone in the great
kitchen. All the day she had worn a mask of mirth,
had been as busy as a bee, and had convinced her
sister, for the twentieth time that she was making no
sacrifice. But left to herself, Catherine underwent a
transformation. The crisis of her pain had come ;
she had to meet the man who had almost broken her
heart ; and for a time she sat in agony, her eyes full
of bitter tears.

At last, when it was quite dark and still, she threw
on her cloak and went to the door. It had been a
chill, drizzly day, and the rain was still falling ; but

*« COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE:' 2^\

without a thought of anything but her errand, she
slipped out, closed the door softly behind her, and
made her way through the darkness to the Warren
Farm.

At the very time' that Catherine was sitting alone,
struggling with that great agony, Gaffer Kingsley was
also sitting alone in his own chair at the farm. His
books of accounts were open before him, and he was
turning them over with trembling fingers ; but his look
was abstracted, and his thoughts seemed wandering
elsewhere. One solitary candle, in a tin candlestick,
guttered on the table befpre him. The slightest sound
from without or within made him start and look round
nervously, and from time to time he mopped the
perspiration from his wrinkled brow.

For days past he and George had scarcely ex-
changed a word. He knew, however, that his son
was making preparations to leave home. When their
eyes met, the Gaffer turned his away, for his spirit
seemed entirely broken, and all his power of vituper-
ation had forsaken him for ever.

It would be difficult to say how far this change
of mood and temper came from shame at his own
rascality, and how far from the moral paralysis con-

282 " COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.''

sequent on the utter failure of his plans. He could
not have enlightened you himself, for he did not
know. He was **narvous," he thought; unaccount-
ably nervous and out of sorts. His relish for life
seemed gone, and in the slow intellectual process of
his small brain, where instinct wfts far stronger than
reason, he was chiefly conscious of a dim animal-
like dread.

He was afraid of George, afraid of every stranger
he encountered, afraid of his own shadow, so to
speak, and afraid in the manner of a spiteful but
well-whipped hound, rather than that of a reason-
ing human being. He knew, vacantly, that although
Bridget lived, and he had deen spared the guilt of
murder, the end of his misdeed had not yet come.
But what was yet to happen, he could not tell.

He was sitting in weary abstraction, when the door
opened, and the man whom of all men living he most
dreaded walked leisurely in. Not recognising him
at first, but full of his own fears, he uttered a cry,
and gripped the stick which ever lay to his hand ;
but the next moment, perceiving that his visitor was
Jasper the shepherd, he fell back in his chair open-
mouthed.

For at least a minute Jasper uttered no word, but,

*• COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVEr 283

leaning on his crook, stood looking hard into the
face of the old man ; then nodding a greeting, he
bent forward and snuffed the guttering **dip" with
his fingers.

" There's a shroud i' the candle I " he observed.
** Facing ^<?«r way, Gaffer ! "

The Gaffer drew a deep breath ; then, looking at
the speaker, his eyes contracted like those of a snake.
He tried to speak, but his lips and tongue were dry as
sand, and the sounds battled in his throat.

** A long, white, shinin' shroud I " continued his tor-
mentor, with a grim smile* ** D' ye know what that
means, you ? "

The tone of sharp contempt in which the words
were spoken acted like the prick of a needle, and
brought the Gaffer to himsel£ His thin bony hand
felt again for the weapon of defence, and his face be-
came fierce and ugly as that of some hunted beast
of prey.

"What brings 'ee hereaway?" he articulated at
last

Without replying, the Shepherd took a chair, sat
down right opposite to the Gaffer, and renewed his
long and searching gaze. This was more than irri-
table flesh and blood could bear. With a little scream

284 ** COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE:'

of rage, the Gaffer grasped his stick, and aimed a
feeble blow at the other's head ; but the blow fell
short, and the stick dropped from the lax and trem-
bling hand, while Jasper sat stern and unconcerned.

"Where's Mr. Jarge?" demanded the Shepherd.

** Don't know and don't care!" was the reply.
** Out of my house, ^o« ! "

Though the words were decisive, the tone was
feeble and even timorous.

** Was it my son Jarge ye came to see ? " the Gaffer
added, suspiciously.

**No son o' yourn!" said the Shepherd, sternly.
''Better begotten and better bred, ye black-hearted
miserable old man. So ! Ye wanted poison, did 'ee,
to rid yourself of a poor hound that troubled 'ee ?
'Twere no hound — 'twere a living woman ! "

The old man's face went livid, his jaw dropped,
his eyes sank in his head, but, conquering his terror,
he gasped —

** Wheesht ! Speak low ! Some one 11 hear'ee I "

"And if they do?" continued the Shepherd. "If
I call out loud and' call folk to witness ye deserve to
hang. Down on your knees — pray the Lord to for-
give 'ee I Thank the Lord I was by to save the poor
wench ye tried to kill I "

«* COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE:' 285

Desperate with terror, the Gafifer half sprang up in
his chair, and shook his skinny hands before him.

''It's a lie ! " he cried. ** Ye can prove nowt I I
tell 'ee it's a lie I Bridget's living I "

** Ay, thanks to me, tho' she drank the ugly broth
ye gave her. She's living, but does that make your
guilt less, Gaffer Kingsley ? Ye tried to kill her, and
the Lord '11 punish 'ee all the same ! "

The Gaffer, his last power of fight gone, fell back
awed and terrified before the pitiless eyes of his
accuser. Huddled up in his chair, he gasped and
groaned and fought for breath. Then, rising quietly,
the Shepherd placed his hand upon his shoulder.

''Confess, ye Cain, or I'll call them that shall make
'ee 1 "

" Shepherd, Shepherd I " moaned the Gaffer, clutch-
ing the outstretched arm. "Hold your peace, and
it '11 be worth your while. Don't 'ee, don't 'ee talk like
that ! • I be an old man, wi' only a short while to
live — and maybe 111 make amends."

Jasper waited until tlie paroxysm of supplication
had subsided, then he spoke again —

"Listen to me. Gaffer. Only me and your son
Jarge knows o' this — even yon doctor vule has ne'er
a guess o' what ailed the little one." (The Gaffer

286 ** COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE:'

pricked up his ears.) ** Well, kneel down and swear
to dower Mr. Jarge wi' the Warren Farm the day he
weds Miss Bridget, and Til save 'ee from ending your
days in jail or maybe worse. "

'* ril promise nowt ! " said the Gaffer, now fully on

the alert. ''Catherine has the money — the lands

•• It
Jine

* * Make your ch'ice ! " cried Jasper. "Swear to do
as I've bidden 'ee, or I'll speak out I "

Their eyes met Jasper's were still stem and deter-
mined, and it was clear that there was no mercy
there; but the Gaffer's were again keen and quick
and full of life. The hunted fox already saw a gleam
of safety. No one knew the secret, except Jasper
and George. George, of course, would be silent, for
very shame, and Jasper — ^^well, Jasper, he knew,
loved money, and might have his price.

'* Gi'e me time ! " the Gaffer murmured. '* Sit down,
sit down, and talk it o'er." He added, with a ifeeble
attempt to seem hospitable and friendly, "Will'ee
take a sup o' something, Shepherd ? A mug o' old
ale ? "

"Not a drop in this house," returned Jasper, with
another of his grim smiles ; '* tho' the man don't live
as could poison me" As he spoke he sat down, add-

*» COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.'' 287

ing, ** There be only one way out o' it — ^gi'e up the
farm, and dower your son."

**And what's to become o' tneV* demanded the
Gaffer, sharply, with a flash of his old savage humour.
** Shall I go down to the workhouse, and ask 'em to
lodge me thereaway ? "

*'Ye may go down to hell-fire, if ye please," re-
turned the other drily. ** It'll be no consarn o' mine
where ye go or what ye do ; but ye'U ha' to put
wrong right, and do justice to her ye wrong'd and
tried to kill. She's to marry Mr. Jarge, mind that I "

The Gaffer mused, gazing vacantly at the shroud
in the candle ; then, with a little of his old tremor, he
bent forward, and detaching the ominous tallow with
his fingers threw it into the fireplace.

** Well ? " said Jasper, watching him.

** Jarge and me don't speak now I " was the evasive
reply.

Jasp^ nodded approvingly.

** Jarge is a good lad, and no wonder his soul's
sick to ha' such a father. But he'll see right done,
tho* his father were to hang, as maybe he will, some
day."

If looks could have killed, the Shepherd would
have had short shrift, so dire and murderous was

288 " COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.''

the other's expression ; but the Gafifer, who was
beginning to recover a certain amount of com-
posure, forced his face into a puckered grin as he
said —

** Ye '11 ha' your joke, Shepherd, come what will.
But, as I was a-saying, Jarge and me don't speak, and
I doubt he *ll be leaving home for good."

The words had scarcely left his lips when the
door again opened, and George Kingsley himself
appeared, looking as haggard and worn as a love-
sick and love-tormented young man could be. He
started on seeing the Shepherd, and seemed about to
withdraw.

"Don't go away, Mr. Jarge," said Jasper. "Your
father and me ha' been talking about 'ee, and I be
glad you're come. "

Without answering, George looked at his £ather,
who averted his eyes. Jasper continued —

** Happen you '11 still be anger'd wi' the old man for
that wicked deed only you and me knows on ; but
the Lord has laid a finger on that black heart o' his'n,
and he seeks to make amends. Now bide a bit," he
continued, in answer to anangjy and impatient ges-
ture from George ; "bide a bit, and hearken to what
I be goin' to say. The day you marry Miss Bridget,

*• COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE^ 289

the Gaflfer here will dower ye both wi' your mother's
portion and the Warren Farm."

The Gaffer started up in his chair, glaring in fierce
protestation ; but before he could say a word George
replied —

**ril take nothing from my father, except whats
my own by right I want neither his gifts nor his
blessings, for there 'd be a curse on both. I'm leav-
ing this place for ever, and I shall never see Bridget
Thorpe again ; after what has happened, I could
never look her in the face. "

The Gaffer broke in wildly : *'Now, Jarge "

'* Holdjyour tongue, ye Cain ! " cried the Shepherd.
'* Come, Mr. George, for Miss Bridget's sake ! "

*'It's for her sake I am going," said George, his
face hard set despite the rising tears. '* We brought
her cruel sorrow and almost death. How could I
take her hand in mine, knowing that my father plot-
ted to have her hfe ? Flesh and blood is thicker than
water, and, God help me ! I'm flesh and blood of his,
and the curse of his guilt will be on me till I die.
Don't talk to me, man ! Don't say another word !
All I want now is to quit this place for ever ! "

Cowed and terrified by this tirade, the Gaffer

crouched in his chair, looking in dumb appeal from

290 *' COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE:'

one face to the other. George, after all, was his son,
and in his own selfish, sordid way he had always
recognised the relationship. He saw now clearly
the extent of his offence and the hopelessness of rec-
onciliation, and in his abject shame and terror he
was almost willing to accede to Jaspers terms.

** Your mind be made up ? " asked Jasper, quietly.

•*My mind's made up," replied George.

"Then so be mine," said Jasper, rising with an air
of determination. * ' Maybe I was wrong to try to
hush up a wicked deed, but now I'll see the guilty
punished whatever befall."

"Whatll 'ee do?" cried, almost screamed, the
Gaffer. ** Jarge, stop him ! Don't let him go ! "

*' I ha''held my tongue till now," said the Shepherd,
pausing and looking at George, *' thinking, maybe,
that ill might be mended, and the little one's trouble
healed. But since *tis as ye say, and all o'er between
ye for evermore, there be no call to be silent now. I'll
go straight away to the constable to denounce the
man that gave poison stuff to Miss Bridget and tried
to take her life."

** No, no ! " shrieked the Gaffer. '* Jarge ! Speak
to him ! Tell him you'll do as he bids 'ee ! Tell
him you'll wed Bridget ! Don't 'ee let him put the •

" COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.'' 291

rope round your father's neck — don't 'ee, don't 'ee 1 '-

Without once glancing at his father, George ad-
dressed the Shepherd. His voice was low and trem-
ulous, and his look was one of utter despair.

**Say what you will," he said, '*but remember
you'll only be breaking Bridget's heart. It 's for her
sake, not my father's, that I warn you to think again.
You know well that I can'i wed Bridget with this
secret on my soul ; and besides my shame to come
between us, there's her sister's hate."

''There be no hate between them now," returned
Jasper. "Miss Catherine and she are thick and
loving, as they ha' always been. Come, lad, do as
you'd be done by — what's past can ne'er be whistled
back, and why should young and innocent folk suffer
for an old man's sin ? "

Instead of answering, George sank into a chair,
and, covering his face with his hands, wept in silence.
His sadly burdened heart had overflowed at last.

The two men watched him silently — ^Jasper with
infinite pity, the Gaffer with increased hope and
eagerness, for in his eyes all such melting was a
sign of defeat.

The candle had burnt so low that the room was in
semi-darkness. The rain pattered on the window

292 ** COME, LIVE WITH ME^AND BR MY LOVE,''

pane with increased force, and the rising wind began

to whistle shrilly past the house.

When the silence was at last broken, it was by the

opening of the door, and the appearance of another

person on the threshold of the room.

Catherine Thorpe, pale as death, and dripping wet
from the storm.

" COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE:' 2^3

CHAPTER XXIII.

CATHERINE.

O frafl Love ! pale Love ! O Love once bright and warm,
Vou crouched beneath my cottage porch and watch the weary

storm,
The rain beats on your naked breast and soaks your wings of gold,
And like a mortal child you droop and shiver in the cold.

pale Love I O frail Love I what is that ye see

Out in the night ? A bridal wreath, or funeral flowers for me ?

1 wait and weary here witliin, and hear you stir out there,
Yet fear to ope the door and hear the message that you bear.

Songs of the Fells,

**Miss Catherine I" cried the Shepherd, startled by
the sudden apparition, while George raised his head
in amazement, and the Gaffer trembled as if his last

hour had come.

Pallid and breathless, with the raindrops streaming
down her face, and her great eyes full of strange
light, the mistress of the farm looked as if she had
come upon some terrible errand. At a glance she
noted the agony of the young man, but the look she
cast upon him was without tenderness or pity ; then
she gazed at the Gaffer, and her face grew harder
still.

294 " COME, LIVE WITHME^ AXD BE MY LOVE^

''Nowt has happened, Miss Catherine?" asked
Jasper, while she paused upon the threshold.

She shook her head, closed the door, and walked
slowly into the room. As she came nearer, the
Gaffer shrunk up in his chair, thinking, "She knows
everything, and Tm a lost man." But suddenly, to
the astonishment of all present, she forced a laugh,
and throwing oflf her dripping cloak, looked wildly
from one to another.

' * Did you take me for a ghost ? " she said. * • Noth-
ing has happened; nothing is going, to happen!
Only I came over to have a talk with George ! "

At the mention of his name, the young man rose
to his feet and passed his hand across his face, while
the Shepherd, approaching Catherine, touched her
lightly on the arm.

** What is it. Miss Catherine ? " he said softly.

She glanced at him and laughed again, this time
very nervously, but made no reply. Meantime the
Gaffer had risen too, and was waiting the issue with
an air in which dread of consequences and obsequi-
ousness were curiously blent

Then suddenly, with a wild flying flicker, the
candle went out, and the room was completely
dark.

** COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE,'' 295

The darkness gave Catherine courage, and she
spoke again.

**I sent for you, George. Why did you not
come ? *'

No answer.

"Can't ye speak, you}'' snarled the Gaffer, shuff-
ling across the room and stumbling as he went ; but
still not a word. In the dead silence that ensued
they could hear the Gaffer groping in the cupboard
for another candle, which he lighted as he held in
his hand, and then, returning to the table, stuck it
into the warm socket of the old candlestick. Then,
in the dim light, they saw Catherine still standing
erect and pale.

*'Afine welcome," she said, in alow voice that
betrayed increasing agitation. **Is the man dumb?
Well, I came here to talk to him, and talk to him I
will ! " and, so saying, she sat down in the chair
vacated by Jasper.

** That's right, that's right ! " piped old Kingsley,
trembling like a leaf. '* You're kindly welcome. Miss
Catherine and my son Jarge "

She interrupted him instantly, with a wave of the
hand and a flash of her scornful eyes.

** What I've got to say must be said to neither you

296 ** COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE^

nor to any man but George alone. Leave us to-
gether I Leave us, d' ye hear ? for Myou speak another

word to me I shall go as I came."

The Gaffer gasped and clutched the table, while
George stepped forward and spoke for the first
time.

** What do you wish to say to me? " he asked.

** I'll tell you that when we're alone," she answered,
"Jasper, get you gone! — you're not wanted here;
and as ioxyou" (again she looked at the Gaffer), *'out
of sight and out of hearing, if you please ! "

The Gaffer hesitating, Jasper gripped him by the
arm.

''Hereaway wi' me," he said, and he drew the old
man to the door, pushed him before him, and fol-
lowed him into the darkness of the storm.

A long pause ensued. George waited, his face set
hard in pain, while Catherine, her eyes fixed upon
the floor, fought as if for breath, her colour coming
and going, her right hand raised from time to time to
her parched lips.

At last she spoke.

* * There 's been trouble enough between lis all, and
I waiit to set it right. It's not for your sake or mine
I 've come here, but for Bridget's ; my back 's strong

" COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE^ 297

enough to bear its load, and so, perhaps, is yours.
And don't think I'm hard or angry — that's all over
now ; but at first — at first — I hated you and yours
^with a bitter hate, and thought that forgiveness would

never come."

She had got thus far, when her smothered emotion
almost mastered her, and she paused, as if choking,
her eyes dim with tears.

*' Don't say another word I " cried George.

** Nay, you shall hear me out ! " she said, conquer-
ing herself in a moment. *' You've ^0/ to hear me,
George Kingsley, and take back the evil things
you've thought and said of me. I'vie humbled
myself in coming here, but I'll humble myself more
if you like, for Bridget's sake. I've brought you a
message from her — will you hear it ? "

*' If you wish it, Catherine."

** It's not what /wish ox you wish," she answered,
almost fiercely, "but what is right and just before
God. You thought I wanted to part you-^you
thought (God forgive you !) that I hated my sister
enough to wish her dead — more than that, enough to
take her life ! "

George stood thunderstruck, for it became clear to
him in a moment that Catherine had no suspicion of

298 ** COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE:'

the truth. His first thought, upon her sudden appear-
ance, had been that she had learned everything, and
her manner to his father had confirmed that impres-
sion ; but now it was obvious that he had been mis-
taken.

*'What are you saying?" he exclaimed. '*No
such cruel thoughts ever entered my head. I knew
that you loved Bridget. I knew "

** Don't lie to me I " she cried. *' Don't make bad
worse, and shame me more and more ! You cursed
my house — you swore never again to come beneath
my roof — that you were sick and shamed to come
there, after what I'd thought and done."

"Who has told you this.?*' asked George, with
increasing consternation. **You needn't answer,
for I know — it was Geoffrey. Yes, I did say that—
I did say that after what had happened I could not
come again ; but I meant — I meant — oh, don't ask
me what I meant, but I swear before God that I was
thinking no evil of you I Geoffrey mistook me — the
curse I called was not on your roof, but mine ! The
hand that parted us was not yours, Catherine, but
another's — and — and "

As he hesitated in horror, there was a cry and a
struggle at the door, and a figure, wild and rain-

" COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE ^ 299

bedraggled, tottered into the room. Il was the Gaffer,
holding out his hand, and moaning in despair —

** Hold your tongue, Jarge ! Hold your tongue !
Don't 'ee lie again your father I agin your own flesh
and blood ! "

How find a simile to describe the miserable old
man, now rendered half mad with shame and dread.
Like a raven half drowned, with dank and ruffled
plumage, or like an animated scarecrow after a long
day of rain, or like anything else hideous and de-
graded and woebegone, stood the Gaffer, shivering and
mumbling and croaking in a very agony of despair.
Catherine looked at him, looked at George, looked
back again at the Gaffer. Then all the truth dawned
on her, or rather struck her like a blow.

She sprang to her feet and clutched the Gaffer by
the arm ; he recoiled and cowered.

*'My God!" she cried. **Then it was you\
you ! "

And upon the very words, and the horrified gesture
which accompanied them, the Gaffer collapsed like
a house of cards, tumbled incontinently on the floor,
and looking up thence with imploring little eyes,
seemed to await his doom.

Catherine turned to George.

300 " COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE:'

** And you knew it? " she demanded.

Without speaking, George bowed his head. It
was now Catherine s turn to collapse ; with a sharp
cry of horror she fell back, but George caught her
and* placed her gently in a chair. Then, as she lay
there half swooning, Jasper the shepherd entered, and,
kneeling by her, while George bent over her, took
her by the hand.

*' Don't ee grieve. Miss Catherine ! " he said ten-
■derly. ** It be all for the best, and 'tis well ye know ;
soon or late 'twas bound to come out, for evil things
they rot and fill the wholesome air. 'Twas from me
that old Cain got the poison stuff — he swore 'twas to
4cill a poor hound — but 'twas thy sister Bridget he
thought to kill ! Ay, and he would ha* killed her, me
not by ! "

**I understand," moaned Catherine, shndderrng.
**I understand!" And strangely enough, as her
senses gathered the truth in all its fulness, relief
came to her, aiid her tears began to flow. Hideous
as it all was, it was less terrible to her than the thought
that George had thought her so infinitely base. She
wept and wept now, like a child.

Meantime, the Gaffer, gathering his old bones to-
gether, crawled into a corner, rose, and stood peer-

** COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.'' 301

ing" wildly at the group ; then, in a new access of terror,
he groped his way to the door, where he paused
again, his lean limbs giving way beneath him, and
clung desperately struggling to the latch ; finally,
with a feeble croak, he plunged out into the darluiess
and disappeared.

*'Let him go!" muttered Jasper. **The rain '11
help wash the smut off his wretched soul ! Look up,
Miss Catherine. Ye know now why this poor lad
was too shamed and heartbroken to face you and
youm. Tell him you forgive him, Missie, tell him
that I "

With a heavy sigh, Catherine reached up her hand
and placed it for a moment in that of George's, then,
shuddering again, she struggled to her feet

**rilgo home now," she said in a low voice.
' * Come, Jasper ! "

"Nay, nay," said the Shepherd. ** There be more
yet to say and do. Don't 'ee think o' your old man,
but of the poor wench as suffer'd so sore through his
misdeeds."

But here George broke in firmly but decisively —

** Catherine is right," he said. **She knows well
that I must suffer for my father's sin. He is my father,
'spite of all, and the stain on him is a stain on me.

302 " COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE:*

I'll only ask Catherine one last favour — to hold her
peace and to spare the old man for my sake/'

**I'll do that, George," she answered. ** Bridget
must never know."

'•Don't 'ee count on that," said the Shepherd.
** Maybe the little one has a guess already ; for how
could she be q^ guessing, know how it all happened,
and how as the Gaffer gave her the stuff to drink ?
She knows, Miss Catherine, but she's been silent for
George's sake ! "

This was a new light on the situation, and a keen
one. Without replying, Catherine turned from the
two men and crossed to the window, looking out into
the darkness of the night. She stood thus for some
time, her face unseen, thinking it all over. Minute
by minute she grew more resolved and strong ; and
at last, when she turned and spoke, her face was calm,
and all traces of pain seemed gone.

** George," she said, holding out her hand.

**Yes, Catherine," he answered, taking her hand
in his.

Then, gently drawing her hand away, she con-
tinued —

** You must hear Bridget's message now. It 's this
—that she loves you still with her whole heart, and

*' COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE:' 303
begs that you will come to her and be friends once

more."

This speech was a little sophistical, for poor Bridget
had said nothing of the kind in words. Catherine,
indeed, was only interpreting her sister's will and
wish, which she knew so well.

*'I believe that Jasper has spoken the truth," she
continued, while George stood silent in despair.
** Bridget guesses everything, but nothing can change
her heart. Only one man can comfort her and make
her happy, and that's the man she has loved from
the beginning. Promise to come to her — promise to
make her your wife."

' * My wife ! " cried George. * * After what has passed !
After my father "

*' Your father's guilt is not yours, " replied Catherine.
**The curse he thought to bring you may become a
blessing. And after all the Gaffer's more like a mad-
man than a sane Christian soul, and maybe all this
will melt his heart and change him before he goes to
face his Maker. So listen, George I I've told you
one errand that brought me here to-night, but there's
another. When Bridget and you marry, it will be
share and share alike with her and me. I always
meant it so. She'll have half my money and half my

304 " COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE^

land to set up housekeeping, and if you do as I 've
said, why, then, I'll throw my blessing in ! "

As she ended, her face wore the ghost of its old
smile, and she held out her hand again.

Half an hour later, Catherine walked slowly home,
escorted by the old Shepherd.

The rain still fell fitfully, but the wind had risen to
half a south-west gale, and through the driving clouds
appeared the waning moon. For the first time after
many days Catherine felt at peace with herself and
with the world. The knowledge that George had
never misunderstood or despised her, added to the
consciousness of her own supreme self-sacrifice,
brought a sense of rest, sad yet happy, like that
we feel after we have stood by a holy deathbed
and witnessed the passing away of some beautiful
soul.

And the deathbed by which this woman had stood
was that of her own love, her first love, and perchance
her last She knew now that it was all over, that
the love she mourned would never arise again, that
night-time and daytime it would be something to
remember with solemn tears. It was dead, quite
dead. The earth would close over it, and the grass and

" COME^ LIVE WJTHME^ AND BE MY LOVE:' 305

flowers would cover it, and Bridget and George would
stand above it, as above a quiet grave.

All the stormy passion had ebbed from her heart \
she even wondered now that it had ever flowed there.
As she had looked into George's face that night, and
held his hand, she had felt no tremor of the old yearn-
ing. He seemed to her only her sister's lover and
future husband, that was all. Had there been no
Bridget to stand between them, she could have
parted from him without a sigh. As she gazed up to

the moon, and thought of the madness that had
passed, she felt that she was not only purified but

heart-whole.

She had settled it all with George Kingsley. He
had sworn, if the shame of his father's crime could
be hidden, and if Bridget's heart was unchanged, to
become her husband. Not without a struggle had
he yielded to his own happiness, but, conquered
by Catherine's magnanimity, he had given his as-
sent.

Through the dark lanes they walked on, until they

came close to the farm where Bridget lay asleep.

Then Jasper, parting with his mistress, bent his head

before her as before some holy woman.

"God has strengthen'd 'ee, Miss Catherine I" he

3o6 " COME^ LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.''

said gently. ** He's taught ee His own charm to
bring forgetfuhiess. May His blessing rest for ever
on you and yourn."

And he left her at the threshold, with a solemn
•'* Good-night ! "

It was close on midnight as she entered the kit-
chen, where a lamp was dimly burning. A figure,
seated in 'the ingle, looked up as she closed the door
behind her.

•'Geoffrey!" she exclaimed, recognising him.
•*What brings you here at this hour?*'

** I was waiting for you," was the reply. ** I found
the door open and the light burning, and I knew you
were not a-bed. "

She took off her damp cloak and hung it up, as he
continued —

'*Tis no weather for you to be wandering out so
late. I doubt you're wet through."

**rd business out yonder with George Kingsley
and his father. 1 found Jasper there, and he brought
me home. 'Tis all settled now— George and Bridget
are to be man and wife."

She spoke lightly and with an assumption of con-
tent, but she was nervous before the eyes which she
knew were fixed wonderingly upon her. She remem-

'' COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.'' 307

bered, too, the events of that day and the part which
Geoffrey had taken in them.

Geoffrey rose with a sigh, not daring to question
her as to what had occurred.

"Til go, now Fve seen you safe; 'tis late, and
you must be tired out."

**Nay, I'm not sleepy," she answered, smiling,
** Sit down a bit if you Ve a mind."

And she drew up a chair and sat down herself.
Geoffrey, however, remained standing, his back to
the ingle, looking down upon her.

Then, partly to relieve her own embarrassment,
she told him how she had made it all up with the
Kingsleys, and had promised to dower her sister
with half she possessed. Not a word did she speak
of the dreadful secret, or of the scene which had
taken place at the Warren Farm ; she thought all
that was sacred, even from Geoffrey.

He listened quietly, nodding approval of all her
plans, asking no questions, expressing no doubts or
misgivings. His heart was too full of its own yearn-
ing : he was too happy in the presence of the woman
who was all his world. But when she had finished,
he said, in a low voice, not looking into her face —

"I was sure it would end so, Catherine, for I knew

3o8 ** COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE:'

you better than you knew yourself. But when Brid-
get weds George and takes half the money and half
the land, what will become of you ? Will you bide
here still on the old farm, or go and dwell with
them ? "

* * I Ve never thought of that," she answered. " But
no, man and wife are best alone ! Maybe — no, "she
added, with a forced laugh, **I shall stay here as
before, and farm the land, with you for my right-hand

man. "

Geoffrey sighed and shook his head.

**I fear that can't be. It's been on my mind for
many a day to say what I came to say to-night I
must leave the farm and find another home — m^ybe

over seas. "

** Leave the farm 1 " she echoed. * * Leave me now,
when I most want a friend ! You'll never do that,
Geoffrey ! "

*' I must" he said ; **I think I should go mad if I
stayed here ! "

And with these words all the long pent-up passion
of his soul broke loose ; his voice trembled, his eyes
grew dim, and his limbs shook beneath him. Startled
by the change in his tone, she looked up and saw
that his face was contracted as if with mental pain.

" COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.'' 309

** What ails you, Geoffrey ? Are you ill ? "

It was a foolish question, for she knew as well as
he what ailed him. Ever since her meeting with
Jasper on the Weald she had known it, and had often
thought it over to herself Her own great sufferings,
also, helped her to understand those of the man who
all his life had been devoted to her — so that when, after
a pause, he spoke again, her heart responded sadly to
every word —

"Don't think, Catherine, that I want to add one
straw to the heayy load you've had to bear. I'm your
friend still, your faithful friend till death ; but I built
too much on my own strength, and now I feel that I'm
only a coward, who must run away. You know why
Catherine — you must know why ! You cannot have
been so blind for all these years ! I'm a fool for my
pains, I know, but I've loved you all my life I "

He paused, and she was silent. Then he went on —

" It was like death to me to see you taking your love
to another man ; yet, God knows, if it could have been
I'd have placed you in that man's arms and been your
friend and brother still ! "

"I know that, Geoffrey," she answered, touched to
the soul by his devotion.

*'And when I sa w^o«r death-struggle, so like my

3IO •' COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE:'

own, I prayed God to comfort you, to bring you
peace. Well, the Lord has heard my payer — ^you've
done by your flesh and blood as Fd have done by
yau^ But what I've bonie once, I shall never be able
to bear again. Another man will come — another
man will be to you what George was once — and so,
after all, 'tis better I should go."

" Geoflfrey I " she cried, holding out her hand.

"Yes, Catherine."

**I shall never play the fool again — I'm cured
for ever of all that Don't leave me ! stay with me 1
I ve no friend in all the world \ii\x\you \ "

He bent over her, took her hand, and kissed it
tenderiy ; while, turning her face away, she wept in
silence.

It was indeed as she had said : in all the world she
had but one friend, and he was by her side ; but the
deadness of the old passion was too heavy on her soul
for her to think of love. Geoffrey was her brother,
nothing more.

Still holding her hand in his, he spoke again —

** And there's another thing, Catherine — I c^n't bear
to see you suffer. I know well that you can never
care for any other man as you have cared for George ;
for 'tis my own heart tells me — love like that never

" COME, LIVE WITH ME^ AND BE MY LOVE,*' 3 1 1

comes twice in a lifetime. And I'm not so mean
and far-gone as to think that you could ever care for
me. I should never have asked /&a/! To remain
by your side, to watch over you, to be your servant,
would have been enough, so long as no other came
to win what I could never hope to gain."

** Let it be like that, then ! " she cried eagerly.
'* Never, never, never shall I care for any other 1 Ah,
you needn't be afraid 1 "

He drew his hand away, and placed it softly on the
head that was bowed before him.

** There's more sorts of love than one, maybe," he
said. ** It isn't in Nature that you should live alone,
and another sort of love will come. God never made
one so pretty to live without love at all ! "

So pretty ! Had any other man spoken the word,
she would have thought he mocked her. Even
from Geoffrey the epithet seemed strange and far-
fetched.

"Nay, nay, GeofFery," she said, with a faint hyster-
ical laugh ; ** I'm none of your pretty ones. All
the world knows I'm coarse and common — the stuff
that old maids are fashioned of. "

His hand moved softly over her hair, with a touch
of benediction.

312 " COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.*'

** You're better than pretty, Catherine — you're beau-
tiful as a summer day I "

She turned, still laughing, and looked into his eyes.
What a depth of passionate tenderness was there !
Yes, it was true ; he was in earnest. In his eyes, at
least, she was beautiful and fair — something to bend
down to and to worship. It was a new experience to
be so loved, and it brought with it a wondering pleas-
ure. The warm blood mantled her cheeks under that
ardent gaze.

** Promise to stay!" she murmured ** Give me
time — some day, perhaps — some da" "

His answer was to take her fc.:.e between his two
strong hands, and to kiss her gently on the forehead.

**ril do as you bid me," he said. **God bless
you, Catherine ! "

And he walked out into the night, happier than he
had ever been, or had hoped to be.

" COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.** 313

CHAPTER XXIV.

THE HOME-COMING OF LOVERS.

O bright Love ! O white Love ! still beauteous and divine ;
You've waited for the night to pass and for the dawn to shine,
But now you lift the latch and look with merry face on me,
While all the birds begin to sing their morning melodie.

O feur Love ! O rare Love I the light of morning grows ;
There's golden rain on leafy boughs and dew upon the rose ;
The Earth is smiling thro* her tears on every living thing,
And I am laughing like a child to hear the news you bring.

Songs of the Fells,

Left alone on the farm, George Kingsley sat ponder-
ing for a long time over the events of that night.
Although he had yielded to Catherine's entreaties,
and had promised to see Bridget the next day, his
heart was still troubled, and he still felt the bitter
sense of shame. Hours passed by, and he still sat
brooding over the future and the past. Then, when
it was long past midnight, he remembered the late-
ness of the hour, and realised that his father had not
returned.

He walked to the door and looked out

The wind was higher than ever, but the rain was

314 " COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.''

still falling ; cloud after cloud, as it passed over the
moon, melted into faint luminous film and fell in
feeble showers*

What could keep the old man ? Where could he
be wandering or hiding ? He was, as a rule, one
who went to bed betimes, and rose with the lark ;
and to be still abroad at such an hour and in such
weather was indeed a new and wild departure.

After all, he was George's father, and not even a
crime so horrible as that which he had contemplated
could dissolve the bojid of flesh and blood. Amid
all the young man's loathing had arisen a subtle
sense of pity ; for, indeed, the Gaffer s agony and
terror had been accompanied with such strange man-
ifestations of both mental and physical disturbance
that even a harder heart than George's might have
been touched.

Perhaps he w^as hiding in some of the out-build-
ings? To ascertain if this were the case, George
walked round, and called his father again and again
by name. No voice responded.

Growing more and more uneasy every moment,
he wandered on towards the cony-haunted fields
which surrounded the house and gave it its name.
The wind howled and the rain fell, with intervals of

" COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE:' 315

dim moonlight and total darkness. The young man's
terror deepened. He was convinced now that some
accident must have happened.

** Father, are you there?" he cried again and
again into the darkness.

Walking rapidly this way and that, uncertain
which direction to take, he came upon the stagnant
pond into which the Gaffer, after his interview with
Jasper, had cast the fatal phial, and as he was turn-
ing away from it, he stumbled over a human figure
lying huddled up on the ground. With a terrified
exclamation, he bent down, and found what he had
been seeking — his father, lixnp and motionless as if
dead.

He lifted him up, and, raising him towards the
moonlight, which just then shone out clearly, saw
that the face was black and distorted, the eyes glaring
vacantly, the mouth covered with foam. His first
thought was that the old man had expired. A breath,
a faint motion of the limbs, showed that he still lived.
Trembling and horror-stricken, he laid hirn down,
knelt by him, and tried to restore him to conscious-
ness, in vain.

Then all grew dark, and heavy rain fell. Deter-
mined to get the stricken creature to shelter as soon

3i6 " COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVEy

as possible, he raised the Gaffer in his strong arms,
and staggered with him towards the house.

The load was a light one — only a little flesh and a
few old bones^ but he tottered beneath its weight.
Fortunately he had not far to go, and before many
minutes had passed he had reached the farm kitchen,
and set down his load in the old arm-chair, which the
Gaffer had occupied so many years.

There lay the old man, a confused and helpless
heap, more dead than living. It was clear now that
he had been seized by some sort of fit. His face
was drawn to one side and bloated with blood, his
arms and limbs hung limply, and his eyeballs did not
contract in the light of the candle.

Searching in the cupboard, George found some
brandy, kept in an old physic bottle as a precious
"medicine"; and with this he moistened the life-
less lips, managing at the same time to pour a little
down the throat. The Gaffer still remained uncon-
scious, but his breathing became heavier and more
perceptible.

At his wits' end what to do next, George finally
decided to bear the old man up to bed. This he did,
struggling with his burden up the narrow stairs, until
he reached the sleeping-chamber. Then he ran

*• COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE:' 317

downstairs and brought up the light, after which he
placed his father on the bed, stripped him of his
outer raiment, shoes and stockings, and arranged
the pillows beneath his head. There the Gaffer lay,
as sorry a wreck of humanity as was ever beheld by
human eyes.

The cottages where the farm-labourers dwelt were
situated at some little distance, and George did not
dare to leave the bedside. From time to time he
administered more brandy, still without avail. When
the grey dawn broke, the old man still lay uncon-
scious, a waif floating miserably between two tides,
that of Life and that of Death.

At early morning a labourer crossed the yard, and
George sang out to him to run at once for Dutton.
It was broad daylight before the man of science
arrived. The moment he saw the patient he shook
his head.

** Cerebral effusion, strong enough to knock
down an ox ! He's warm, and that's all, " said
Dutton.

'*Will he live?" asked George, eagerly, feeling
for the first time in his life a tender interest in the
author of his being, and looking at the bed through
rising tears. Yes, that poor wreck of a living man

3i8 " COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.''

was his father^ and it was pitiful to see him cast so
low.

" He may ^nd he mayn't," answered Dutton. "I
wouldn't give tuppence for his life myself. Put some
warm bottles to his feet, and I'll send him som^
physic "

**He's stirring," cried George, suddenly.

And at that moment, indeed, a gleam of conscious-
ness came into the wrinkled face, and the foam-
ilecked lips moved as if striving for utterance. Dut-
ton bent over him, lifted his right arm, and then
released it ; it fell limp and powerless on the bed.

** Hemiplegia I " muttered Dutton. ** He may lin-
ger a bit, but he's an old man, and hell never rise
again."

But the Gaffer was of a tough breed, hard to kill.
A few weeks afterwards he had recovered sufficiently
to be carried downstairs and to occupy his old seat
by the fire. Yet, although the withered body re-
tained a portion of its old life, the power of speech
had almost gone, and the keen eyes were glassy and
dim.

The news of the Gaffer's collapse soon spread far
and wide, and caused, to tell the truth, little or no

" COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE:' 3 1 9

lamenting. George, however, watched and nursed
the invalid as if he had been the best, not the worst,
of fathers.

Then, one day, after a few meetings out-o'-doors,
Catherine and Bridget cartie over, and Bridget asked
permission to sit now and then with the old man.
At first George refused peremptorily, but Bridget said :
"Let bygones be bygones, George. }^€^ your
father ! " And George realised then, by her manner,
that she knew the truth, that, as Jasper had affirmed,
she had guessed it from the first

When she first entered the kitchen, the Gaffer, lying
propped up by pillows, made no sign of recognition,
so that what George most dreaded, a convulsion of
feeling at the sight of the pretty creature whom the
Gafifer had so hated, did not take place. He did not
know her, indeed he hardly knew anyone except his
son ; but gradually, from day to day, as Bridget's
visits increased, he seemed to take pleasure in her
presence, and to be dimly aware of her as of some
gentle nurse.

And thus, for the first time in his life, the egregious
and impossible Gaffer, once the terror of friends and
enemies alike, became an object of human interest
Surely a miracle indeed !

320 " COME^ LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE.''

A year has passed away, and Amanda and Jabez
are seated again under the shelter of a tree, in a corner
of the hayfield. It is the noontide siesta, or, to speak
more properly, the noontide siesta is just over, and
already the mowers are busy yonder in the sunshine.

• * Amandy ! "
"Yes, Jabez!"

"Where's Measter Jarge? "

"Coming o'er the meadow yonder with the young
mistress. Eh, but she looks bonnie I Happy is the
bride as the sun shines on ! "

" Wedlock's a vulish thing ! " said Jabez, with a
grin.

" And men be vulish creatures ! " returned Amanda,
holding up a big fat hand on which a golden ring
was gleaming.

* * How many days since young mistress was mar-
ried, you ? "

"Why, a whole month, ye dumbledore. Just a
month after the Gaffer died J "

" And you and me ? "

"Twenty year, to my counting ! " returned Amanda,
throwing a bunch of hay into the man's face ; where-
upon he caught her round the waist and kissed her
with a smack of hearty enjoyment

" COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVEr 321

Just then, as if Time had rolled back again, and it

was a year ago, the gate of the tield opened, and

Geoffrey Doone rode in on his roadster.

* * Quiet, ye vule ! There's Measter Geoffrey ! "

And as Geoffrey rode up, Amanda jumped to her

feet and curtsied low. Jabez rose too, and touched

his forelock.

** Idle as ever ! " said Geoffrey, with a sunny smile.

*' I thought wedlock would have cured you ! "

• Jabez grinned.

'*Lord love 'ee, Measter Geoffrey, wedlock be a

cure for many thing, but none a cure for that ! "

'* Have you seen Miss Catherine? " he asked.

** She's out yonder in the five-acre," answered

Amanda, whereupon Geoffrey nodded lightly and

rode on.

Jabez watched him until he was out of earshot,

then, scratching his head, and winking at Amanda,

he observed —

'* Miss Catherine ! allays Miss Catherine ! 1 doubt

there'll be another couple o' vules before long."

'' Sure enough," returned Amanda. **'T was bound

to happen," and tying on her sun-hat she strode away

across the fields, followed by her liege lord.

Geoffrey found Catherine busy among the hay-

322 " COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE:'

makers —the same simple Catherine, brown with the
sun and full of sunny health. She saw him coming,
and ran to his horse s side.

* * So George and Bridget have come back ? *' he
said gaily.

**Yes, and brought good weather and good luck
with them. There they are I "

The young couple, hand in hand like children,
were moving thither across the field — Bridget, dainty
and well-dressed as ever, George in a dark summer
suit. The moment they appeared, the haymakers
gave them a hearty cheer. Bridget blushed and,
running to her sister, kissed her fondly, while George
and Geoffrey shook hands.

The four chatted together for a time, then George
and his bride strolled away. Catherine still re-
mained by Geoffrey, her hand resting on the horse s
mane.

** They're happy, thank God!" said Geoffrey.
"And now that they're to dwell over yonder at the
Warren, what's to become oiyou ? "

Catherine laughed and blushed.

' ' Oh, I shall be all right ! I've got the farm to look
after still, and winter and summer plenty of work to
do. I shall live on just as I've lived, unless "

" COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE r 323

** Unless?" asked Geoffrey, bending forward in
the saddle, and looking into her eyes.

'' Unless," she replied, answering the look, *' unless
there's some foolish man in the world who thinks he
cares for me, and who'll take me for my own sake,
with all my faults ! "

The face of Geoffrey grew radiant as a sunbeam.
He placed his hand on hers, and said in a low voice,
broken between laughter and tears —

** I wonder, Catherine, if there 's such a man ? "

L'ENVOI.

•* Come, live with me, and be my Love I "

The Shepherd singeth as of old ;
Across the fells his white flocks move

Close to the shelter oi the Fold ;
The sun shines bright, the wind blows free.

All's green beneath, and blue above ....
O hark, again
That old refrain ! —
»* Come, live with me ! Come, live with me J

Come, live with me, and be my Love ! "

Sweet music of the beating heart,

Helped softly by the fciltering tongue,

Still heard where lovers meet or part,
For ever old, yet ever young !

Old as the Mountains and the Sea,

Young as each Dawn that breaks above ! . . ,

324 " COME, LIVE WITH ME, AND BE MY LOVE,''

Again, again,
The Shepherd's strain :
" Come, live with me ! Come, live with me I
Come, live with me, and be my Love ! '*

This is the Song Time cannot still.

This is the Life that ever springs.
This is the Joy that ne'er grows chill.

But warms all Earth and living things ;
This is the Charm that still shall be
Wherever mortals live and move ! , . .
O, hark again,
That sweet refrain —
" Come, live with me ! Come, live with me i
Come, live with me, and be my Love 1 **

THE END.

3 2044 020

4ie

This book should be returned to
the Library on or before the last date
stamped below.

A fine of five cents a da? is incurred

' retaining it beyond the specified

time.

Fleftse return promptly.

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